Dealing With It
by Mrs.Cool
Summary: Lawrence feels nothing like Mr. Cool. Alicia has a serious attitude problem. The two barely interact with other, band mates or not. But what happens when Alicia overhears something she shouldn't have? COMPLETED! Rated for mild swearing. Review!
1. The Opposite Sex

**(AN: I do not own any of the characters of school of rock**)

"Lawrence, are you finished with your homework? Dinner is ready?" shouted Lawrence's dad up the stairs.

"Yes, father, I'll be down in a minute," Lawrence poked his head out of his bedroom door. His father nodded and disappeared.

But Lawrence wasn't doing his homework. He wasn't practicing on his brand new keyboard that he had gotten for Christmas either. He had been standing in front of his mirror, practicing on asking Eleni to the Spring Fling dance. Yes, it was a long shot, but he had liked her as long as he could remember.

Lawrence wasn't the type of guy to show his feelings. He was shy and was far from being Mr. Cool, like his old teacher, Dewey, had assured him he would be. That had been two years ago, and the band was still going strong. At band practice and gigs, he was part of something, but when that was over, he was back to being shy, quiet, 'nobody talks to me' Lawrence.

Eleni was gorgeous and could usually be found hip and hip with Michelle, her best friend and other groupie of the band, School Of Rock. They came to practices, danced around to the music, and gave each of the boys kisses on the cheek before they performed. Whenever Eleni gave him a kiss on the cheek, it always seemed to linger as if she were still kissing that very spot.

It didn't help that she was always saying things like 'Lawrence, get a picture with me for the scrapbook', in which she'd smile at him and make him put his arm around her while they posed for a picture, or when she'd say 'nice solo, Mr. Cool', winking at him when the band would finish practicing a new song. And what got to him the most was when over all of the cheers and screams at a gig, he could hear her shouting 'Lawrence, I love you!'

Of course, she was a groupie, and well, they were supposed to worship the members of the band. She and Michelle also said things like this to Freddy and Zack, but Lawrence had some hope that she really meant these things when she said them to him.

"Lawrence! The food is getting cold!" he heard his father shout for him again.

He looked once again into the mirror, feeling less than confident. He hated his glasses, he hated how he was a little pudgy in the middle, and he hated how when he could never relax his posture. He always looked so polite, so stiff, nothing like someone in a awesome rock band.

He let out a sigh and went down stairs to eat. His mother had made his favorite food, which usually meant that his father wanted to talk about college with him. He hated this. He was only in the seventh grade. College wasn't for another few years. He wasn't sure if he would continue with music, but his father had told him a long time ago that he could be in the band if and only if he did it for fun and not for a profession. Lawrence had agreed. He didn't want to be another Dewey, but he'd never say that out loud.

The forks and knives clanked against the plates as he, his mother, his father, and his little sister ate dinner in a comfortable silence. Well, it would've been comfortable if Lawrence hadn't awaited for his father to start the college talk. Five minutes in, Lawrence's father seemed to pull a brochure from his ass, handing it to him.

"I want you to take a look at that, Lawrence," said his father, "They have an excellent engineering program, and it's never too early to take your SAT."

"Yes, father."

Lawrence pretended to read the front of the brochure as if interested, and then sat it down to finish his food.

Another comfortable silence passed, and Lawrence was surprised that his father wasn't pushing for him to talk about the college more. Instead, his mother was watching him from the corner of her eye.

"So, Lawrence, I heard about the Spring Fling dance at the PTA meeting yesterday. Are you going to go?" she asked.

Lawrence almost choked on a cooked carrot. "Huh?"

"The Spring Fling dance."

"Yes," Lawrence heard himself say quietly, "I was thinking of asking one of the girls in the band."

"There are no Chinese girls in the band," said Lawrence's Father, indignantly.

"It doesn't matter, Lin," his mother said. "I'm happy to see that you're finally making an attempt to interact with the opposite sex."

Lawrence watched his father shoot his mother a look to say 'not in front of Sarah', who was his little sister.

After dinner, Lawrence retreated to his room and lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He sheepishly smiled to himself just thinking about asking the prettiest girl to the Spring Fling dance. He jumped up and did a little awkward dance in the middle of his floor.

"Lawrence, go to bed! You have school tomorrow," he heard his father shout from the other bedroom across from his.

He got back in bed and shut out the light to fall asleep.

The next day, Lawrence had butterflies in his stomach when his father dropped him off at school. He saw some of his band mates walk in together. He decided not to catch up with them. He'd just end up walking behind them anyway, not saying a word. He walked to class by himself and made it into class ten minutes before the morning bell rang. Summer was next to walk into class. She was talking on her cell phone, yelling at Dewey for scheduling a recording session during school hours. They were going to record their first CD next week.

Next was Zack, Freddy, Marco, and Katie. Freddy was air drumming with his drum sticks, Katie was bobbing her head to her CD player, and Zack and Marco were laughing at something. Then Marta, then Frankie, then Tomika, then a few others. Lawrence kept his eyes locked on the door. Finally, Eleni, Michelle, and Billy came walking in, giggling. They all sat together near the door, and Eleni didn't even look Lawrence's way.

Class had started, and Lawrence settled in his seat to pay attention. He was a smart kid, this he knew. He had no problem concentrating on his studies, but that didn't stop him from thinking about Eleni. Occasionally, he'd think about how she flipped her hair when she stood by her locker, or how when she laughed she snorted a little, or how she smelled like flowers and coconuts whenever she hugged him after practice.

His thoughts were interrupted when Alicia came into class late. The teacher, Mrs. Crosley, had stopped her lesson and crossed her arms, expectantly.

Alicia casually walked back to her seat as if she had done nothing wrong. Before she could sit down, Mrs. Crosley stopped her.

"Alicia, I'm going to have to give you detention for being late," she said.

Alicia dropped her bookbag and sat down, rolling her eyes. "I had an emergency."

Lawrence never talked to Alicia, even though they were in the band together. She, well, kind of scared him. Everyone was a bit afraid of her but Tomika. She talked back to teachers, she always sat in back of the class, and she even made a boy cry once. The only time Alicia seemed pleasant was when she was singing in the band. She had a strong tendency then too. She bullied the microphone from the other back up singers. Dewey referred to this as 'boggarting' the mic.

"What emergency was that?"

Alicia rolled her eyes again. "An emergency. The point is I'm here."

"Alicia, you don't have to give me an attitude. I was just asking what was so important for you to miss the first ten minutes of class."

"Well, if you really want to know, I started my period for the very first time," said Alicia bluntly.

Everyone in the class turned stone face, including Lawrence. A couple of the girls snickered, and Freddy made a gagging noise.

"Ok, that's so not something you admit out loud," Lawrence heard Eleni whisper to Billy.

Apparently Alicia heard this comment and asked her sourly, "Why? Are you jealous?"

Eleni didn't have time to retort or say anything back. Mrs. Crosley, clearly embarrassed by Alicia's personal statement, had cleared her throat and told everyone to return their attention back to the lesson.

Class was almost over with and Lawrence quickly memorized his new English terms that they were going to have a pop quiz on the following week. He knew that Mrs. Crosley always threw a pop quiz a week after learning new definitions. He and Summer were going to get together to study, but they were more of study partners other than friends. Other than that, they didn't talk.

Mrs. Crosley was going over a last minute section of their English book when to Lawrence's left, he saw Tomika pass something to Marta. Marta passed it to Frankie, who passed it to Gordon, who passed it to Katie, who passed it to Zack. Lawrence watched Zack open it and read it. He looked across the room at Tomika and then wrote down something on the piece of paper.

He then passed it back to Katie, who passed it to Gordon, who passed it to Frankie, who passed it to Marta, who gave it back to Tomika. She opened the note, and Lawrence heard a 'yes!' behind him.

The bell rang, and everyone packed up their stuff and left class.

"Hey, Larry, over here," Freddy shouted to Lawrence, who had just paid for his lunch.

Freddy and the guys never invited him to the table unless they were talking about something dealing with the band. He usually ate alone or with Summer, who usually only ate with him to run over notes.

Lawrence juggled his green gelatin on the tip of tray all the way over to the guys' table and sat down on the end. He waited for them to tell him news about the band that they had just discovered, or to hear a new song Zack wrote, but instead, everyone just carried on eating and talking about girls.

"So, Lawrence, man, who are you asking to the Spring Fling Dance?" asked Marco, nudging him.

"Umm..."

"I can't believe Tomika asked you, man," Freddy interrupted, talking to Zack.

"Hey, shut up, dude. She's a kickass singer," Zack leaned over the table and punched him in his arm. "Besides, Tomika's better than Marta."

"Hey! I'm going with Marta," shouted Marco.

"I'm going solo," said Freddy, smugly. "More ladies for me."

Lawrence felt so out of place. They were talking about girls, and he had nothing to say. Would it really be able to live it down if he just suddenly confessed his feelings for Eleni? He was waiting to hear if any of the guys had claimed her. Many of the guys had found dates in other classes, or they weren't going to the dance at all.

"Katie's going with some boy from Forest Hill."

"Did anyone ask Summer?"

"She's going with some other brainiac boy from another class. They're in charge of the dance together. Jason, or something like that."

"Michelle and Eleni?"

"Well Michelle's going with Billy--"

"Billy? With a girl?"

"Shut up. Not cool. Billy's alright, and they're going just as friends."

"Eleni going with him too?"

"I don't know who she's going with. She hasn't said anything."

"So who all is left?"

Everyone looked at each other and chimed "Alicia".

Lawrence and the boys looked over at Alicia, who was with Tomika in the lunch line. Some boy accidentally bumped into her, and she pushed him with the front edge of her tray.

"Watch were you're going, stupid ass," she snapped at him, eyeing him with hate.

* * *

Tomika watched the boy walk away amusingly and continued to follow her friend, shaking her head. 

"Girl, you're a trip," Tomika laughed, following close behind her friend.

"What? It's not my fault the dumb ass can't pay attention to what he's doing," replied Alicia.

She hated most of the kids at that stupid prep school. All of the boys were drooling idiots and all of the girls were so full of themselves. That was what she always felt. It wasn't the PMS talking.

That morning she had got up feeling a little ill. Something was wrong with her stomach, but she didn't pay it much attention. It wasn't until she was on her way to class that she felt that something wasn't quite right. She had went into the bathroom, only to discover that she had started her period.

It made a lot of sense, considering that she had been on edge for the entire week before. It was past her normal snappy self.

She had to wait for someone to come into the bathroom to give her something before she could leave. Walking into class late wasn't fun either. All of her classmates had stared her, and Mrs. Crosley annoyingly wouldn't get off of her back about it. She finally decided to shut her up by telling the truth. Mrs. Crosley never said anything after that.

And now it looked like the boys were going to start with her too.

"Hey, Alicia, make sure you're not late to practice tonight. Bring a tampon," said Freddy as she walked past.

"Gross, dude! We're eating," said Zack, making a face.

"Freddy, has anyone ever told you that my fist is going to make contact with your mouth one of these days?" Alicia stopped in front of their table, her tray nearly hitting Lawrence in the head.

A bunch of 'OOOooos' came from the table, and Alicia triumphantly smiled.

"Tomika, you gonna let your friend talk to me like that? I just might not let you go out with Zack," joked Freddy.

"I don't think it's your choice," Tomika retorted, smiling at Zack, who smiled back. "See you tonight, Zack."

"See ya."

The two girls left the boys table and went to sit down at the girls table. The first part of the table, nearest to the boys, was where Eleni, Michelle, and Billy sat. At this end, they usually talked about the latest trends, boys, and stuff that most air headed people would talk about. Alicia hated Eleni and Michelle. To her, they were pretty much useless to the world, but she never hesitated to make them bring her water during band practices. She wasn't too keen on Billy either, but she could tolerate him.

The middle part of the long table was where Marta and Summer sat. Their conversations usually consisted of Marta complaining about something or other, while Summer went on and on about her grades, and on occasion, shows that the band had coming up. Alicia didn't really talk to these two. She couldn't stand how Summer acted like she was better than everyone else, but she did give her credit for putting up with Dewey's laziness and handling all of the band drama. Alicia personally thought she was a better singer than Marta. Because of this, Alicia tended to boss her around, telling her what notes she should or shouldn't hit or correcting her on her dance moves. Their 'friendship' was nothing but professional.

Lastly, the end of the table by the window was where she, Tomika, and Katie sat. Katie usually listened to her CD player, and every once in awhile joined in on a conversation that she and Tomika were having. Alicia liked Katie, but wouldn't necessarily go out of her way to have a close friendship with her. Tomika did most of the talking, but a lot of the time, she would just stare at Zack, which really annoyed Alicia. Tomika and she had been friends since she had started at Horace Green. They were close, but distant at the same time. Tomika had come out of her shell since that crazy year that Dewey had pretended to be a substitute teacher at their school, causing them to start a band. Alicia, on the other hand, refused to become 'best friends' with a bunch of people who never talked to her in the first place.

"So, you and Zack? Is it a go?" Katie asked Tomika, slipping one ear piece off of her ear.

"Yep! Girl, I've already got my dress picked out. Who are you going with?"

"This really hot punk kid from Forest Hill who lives next door to me. His name's Tim," smiled Katie before she slipped her ear piece back on her ear and turned the sound up.

"You guys are so lame. Who wants to go to that lame ass dance?" Alicia smacked her teeth.

"Don't even pretend you don't want to go. I know you do," said Tomika, taking a bite of her turkey sub.

Ok, so it was true. Alicia did want to go to the dance. She had never been to one before, which none of them had, and it was something she didn't want to miss. However, she wasn't going to go alone. She hated how everyone else had a date, but she didn't. There was really no one left to go with. She also knew no one would ask her. They didn't like her, and they knew she didn't like them. She was considered a real witch. She couldn't help that she just naturally had an attitude.

She especially had an attitude when Dewey told her she was 'boggarting' the mic. She only did this because she hated how Marta sang and want her voice to cover over hers. Tomika could sing, but she usually had a solo to do so Alicia felt it as her duty to make it sound good. She saw it as helping out the band, not trying to make herself the star.

"So what? It ain't gonna happen."

"Why don't you ask--"

"No. Uh-uh," Alicia waved a dismissive hand at her friend. "We're not even going to go there."

"Ok, ok," Tomika chuckled a little, taking another bite of her turkey sub, and then wrapping it up and slipping it in her bookbag for later.

Dewey had band practice that night at 6:00. No one was there but the band and the groupies. They did their usual warm up, which usually meant a bunch of talking, flirting, and fooling around. Michelle clung herself on Freddy, and Alicia wanted to laugh when Katie stuck her finger part way in her mouth and pretended to gag. Eleni was talking to Lawrence, and he looked like he was about to wet himself. Alicia thought it was so obvious that he had a crush on her. It made her sick. No one should waste their precious time on Eleni.

Marta, Tomika, and Zack were chatting, as Zack played a few riffs on his guitar. Tomika was laughing and smiling at Zack like she was the most carefree person in the world. Alicia rolled her eyes. Since when did everyone become so obsessed with the opposite sex?

"Ok, everyone, enough chatty-chat-chat. Let's gooo," announced Dewey strapping on his guitar.

Alicia stepped over to the mic, followed by Marta and Tomika. As soon as Zack started off, everyone leaped into action. They played a song Dewey wrote first which was called 'When You're Down and Out'.

Then they played a song that Zack had written called 'Everything's Green'. During this one, they had to stop three times. The first time was because one of the groupies had tripped over Zack's cord leading to his amp while dancing. The second time was because Lawrence had messed up his playing after his solo. Alicia could've sworn it was because Eleni had shouted 'Lawrence, you're awesome!' The last time was because Alicia was 'boggarting' the mic.

"It's not my fault you can only hear me," said Alicia sourly to Dewey.

"Look, no need to get hostile," Dewey walked over to her and patted her on the back. "I just want be able to hear the other girls."

"Then tell them to step it up."

"Alicia..." Dewey started off, but Freddy took it as his cue to make an announcement.

"She's being a witch because she started her _period_ today," he teased her.

"Freddy, that's enough," Dewey pointed a stern finger at him. "Alicia, congratulations. I'll take you out for a margarita or something later, but right now, I want to get on with practice. We record in a week."

Alicia wanted to go over there and smack the living daylights out of Freddy. She hated when he always tried to embarrass her. However, she listened to Dewey and allowed practice to continue.

Practice ended around 9:00. Alicia would've been the first one out of the door, but instead, Dewey had pulled her aside, wanting to have a serious conversation.

"Alicia, we need to talk about your attitude. It's giving the band a negative vibe," he told her, hands clasped in front of his mouth. "What's been going on, girl?"

Alicia looked away from him. "Nothing. I didn't mean to get smart at practice today, but Freddy--"

"Just ignore him. You know how he is sometimes. When we practice, it's about all of us, not just one person. That's important for you to know Alicia. That's the only way you can be part of this band."

"So are you trying to say that I'm kicked out of the band?" she snapped.

"No, no, nooo," Dewey exaggerated his voice. "I would never kick a great singer like you out of the band, but I want a little band unity. It starts with you, girl. Hang out with some other members of the band, get a little more friendly."

After awhile, Alicia nodded, and Dewey gave her the rockin' hand shake and went into the kitchen to help himself to another pizza pocket. She walked back into the living room to take down her microphone and gather her things and leave. Lawrence was in there, standing in front of Eleni. She pitied him.

* * *

"I was wondering," Lawrence shifted to his other foot, "if..." 

"Yeesss?" Eleni pressed on, as Michelle giggled behind her.

"The Spring Fling Dance. I wanted to know if... if... you'd go with me?" he mumbled.

He waited for his heart to stop so he could drop dead. Eleni and Michelle started to giggle wildly. Was this bad? Was this good? He didn't know what to think.

Finally she said, "Can I tell you my answer tomorrow?"

Lawrence could feel the sweat on his brow. He gripped his hands so tightly behind his back, hoping she didn't notice how nervous he was. "Ok. That would be fine. See you tomorrow."

The girls walked away giggling more. Lawrence decided it was good for them to be giggling. Girls did that when they liked someone, right? He loved Eleni's giggle. It made him feel all bubbly inside, as if he had drank too much soda and the fizz had taken over his brain. A smile crept across his face as Dewey swore loudly in the background. He must've caught something on fire.

"She's going to say no," someone spoke from behind him.

The fizz disappeared and he spun around and saw Alicia. She was stashing her microphone in the corner. She stopped and looked at him dully.

Alicia was actually talking to him. "Huh?"

She smacked her teeth. "I said she's going to say no to you. Do you really think she'd go with someone like you?"

Lawrence was a little insulted and confused. "But she giggled."

Alicia, picked up her purse, rolling her eyes. "She giggled because they're making fun of you. Just 'cause she gives you attention when you're with the band doesn't mean she likes you."

Dewey walked into the living room where they were, holding a burnt pizza pocket. "Hey, guys, no offense but you're gonna have to get out of here. My favorite show is coming on in, like, three seconds. Scramble, scat, scoot."

Lawrence picked up his jacket, and Alicia pushed past him. She turned around and looked at him once before she walked out of the door. "Lawrence, don't be such a stupid ass. Eleni's isn't worth the wet dreams."

Lawrence watched her go, feeling pretty angry. Why did she always have to make everyone feel like crap because she wasn't having a good day. She was wrong about Eleni, and if he had enough guts to do it, he would rub it in her face when she said yes after all.

**(AN: This is the first chapter and there's 4 more to go. Can the ice queen melt the ice around her heart? Can Mr. Uncool finally get what he wants? You'll have to keep reading to find out. Review please! Positive, and if not positive, then helpful. Thanks for reading)**


	2. Commiting Social Suicide

1**(Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of school of rock, etc.**)

Ironically the next day at school, everyone was talking about the Spring Fling dance. Lawrence had did his bow tie extra tight, he made sure his mother had ironed his shirt a good three times, and he had shined his shoes all so he could look extra neat and handsome when Eleni would give him her answer about the dance. He thought this would help with his confidence, but he found himself fumbling with his bow tie every five seconds.

Class went by with the usual. Freddy would say something smart ass about Alicia out loud in the class, and Alicia would retort something even more smart ass. Mrs. Crosley would try to get them to focus their attention back on the material by threatening to give out detentions. Zack would get called on to answer a question, but he never knew the answer because he was too busy scribbling down a new song. It always got confiscated but returned to him by the end of the day. Billy, Michelle, and Eleni would always get in trouble for talking, and Tomika was always sneaking bites of a sandwich whenever the teacher turned her back.

Lawrence noticed one little thing different today though. He noticed that Eleni was glancing over at him more than usual. He managed once, just once, to not be a spaz, and shot a dopey smile her way.

When class was over, he expected her to come tell him her answer, but she left with Michelle and Billy. In music class, she didn't approach him, nor did she in math, science, or Latin. When lunch rolled around, he sat with the boys again, to hear any new news on who was going with who. He wanted to know if anyone had heard that he had asked Eleni.

"My mom's chaperoning the dance," said Marco. "Talk about embarrassment."

"Embarrassment? My dad has already called Tomika's dad and set up a dinner meet and greet. It's tonight," said Zack, wincing at the thought of sitting through a dinner with their parents bragging about them and their talents.

"Dude, do you even like Tomika?" asked Freddy.

Zack shrugged coolly, "I dunno, man, let's just say I'd eat a turkey sub with her any day."

Lawrence sat there quietly, sipping some of his apple juice. Why did he always feel so out of place with them. These were his classmates, his band mates, his friends. Should he pipe up and announce that he and Eleni just might become a item?

"Freddy, you're such a pimp," said Leonard. "I see you talking to a new girl everyday."

Freddy leaned back in his chair smugly. "You know how it is."

Lawrence envied Freddy. He could talk to any girl he wanted, and many girls liked him. He didn't need assigned groupies. He had them all on his own, and whenever School of Rock had shows, they would show up and cheer him on. But Lawrence knew that Freddy had a problem controlling himself. He was an asshole most of the time. Freddy often talked to him, but it was usually about music or trying to get him to be less shy.

"Isn't there one girl you wanna go to the dance with?" asked Marco, but Freddy didn't hear him. He was too busy awaiting his chance to torment Alicia as she walked by.

* * *

"Hey Alicia--"

"Shut up, Freddy," she didn't even bother to look at him.

"How're the cramps?"

"Shut up, Freddy."

Freddy laughed wildly, "Midol, anyone?"

Alicia sat down her tray on the end of the table, walked over to the boy's table, and smacked him in the back of the head as hard as she could. Everyone burst into laughter.

Freddy rubbed the back of his head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"That's what happens to assholes when they don't shut up when I tell them to," she snapped, sauntering back over to her table.

Tomika and Katie couldn't stop cracking up. Alicia sat down and starting eating her sushi as if nothing had even happened.

In the middle of lunch, she got up and went to the bathroom down the hall. She was just finishing up in the stall when she heard Michelle and Eleni come in, talking loudly and laughing.

"He's such a dork. It's pathetic the way he gawks at you," Alicia heard Michelle say.

"I know. I wouldn't even care about him if he wasn't in the band. Freddy and Zack, maybe, but definitely not Lawrence," Eleni laughed. "What was he thinking?"

"Maybe you should go with him just to be nice."

"Yeah right! I'd never live it down. I'm just going to say 'I'm sorry, but you're a dork'."

Alicia felt her blood boil. She hated them. Ever since they had reached seventh grade and had started developing boobs, they had become popular witches. She stayed silent, picturing the two annoying girls standing at the mirror, fixing their hair and applying more lip gloss. Part of her wanted to burst out of the stall and tell them off, but part of her wanted to go and tell Lawrence.

The girls left the bathroom and Alicia waited until she heard the door close before she came out. She washed her hands quickly and left out, hoping to get to Lawrence before Eleni did.

Part of why she wanted to warn him was because she felt like she had been too harsh on him the day before. She had told him that Eleni would decline on his date offer because she'd never go with someone like him. She felt guilty that it was actually going to happen.

Alicia stormed into the lunch room, watching Eleni and Michelle walk up to the guys' table, tapping Lawrence on the shoulder. She watched Lawrence turn around and get that goofy smile on his face. Alicia wanted to yank all of that blond hair out of her head.

She went over and sat down at her table, trying to listen to every word that was spoken to Lawrence.

"Lawrence, hey," Eleni said sweetly, hands in her uniform pocket.

"Hi," he said nervously.

A couple of the boys snickered.

"Listen, um, I can't go to the dance with you."

"Oh, ok. Why?" Lawrence asked timidly.

She didn't know what brought this on, but Alicia had gotten out of her seat. She heard Tomika ask her where she was going, but she ignored her.

Eleni giggled with Michelle. "I'm sorry, but you're a do--"

"Pick me up at seven, Lawrence?" Alicia broke in, pushing Eleni out of the way.

What made her do it? Was she actually standing here protecting Lawrence's heart? It's just not what she did.

"Excuse me?" said a puzzled Lawrence.

Both the girls and boys tables went silent. Everyone looked confused, and Alicia found herself a little confused as well.

"I said, pick me up at seven the night of the dance," she repeated.

"He didn't ask you," Eleni crossed her arms. "He asked me."

"And you just turned him down so why do you care?"

"Because no one, and I mean, no one wants to go to the dance with the Brace Face witch," Eleni snapped, staring down at Alicia.

Now Alicia could've done one of three things. One, she could've just hit her. Two, she could've embarrassed her in front of the entire lunch room. Or three, she could just say a little something to make her go away. As she always reminded herself, Eleni and Michelle weren't worth it.

"Don't flatter yourself, Honey. You were only a rebound choice. You see, my man, Larry here, asked me, but I told him I didn't know if I was going. So he went and asked you thinking I couldn't. But I guess it's all settled now. So scoot along and go apply more lip gloss."

She was amazed at how good of a liar she was. That whole thing had come off the top of her head.

"Whatever. Hope you two have an extremely bad time," Eleni rolled her eyes and walked away.

Lawrence looked as if he didn't understand what had just happened. Alicia looked at him suggestively. "So, seven o'clock next Saturday, Lawrence?"

It took him awhile to say anything. "Yes, sure."

"Are you crazy?" Freddy shouted like an idiot. "You can't go with... her!"

"I'm not wasting my time on smacking you again," Alicia snapped, retreating back to her table.

Both Tomika and Katie's jaws were dropped.

"And what the hell was that about?" Tomika asked incredulously.

"What are you talking about?"

Katie had taken off her earphones completely. "You barely look at Lawrence, and all of a sudden he's taking you to the Spring Fling Dance?"

Alicia looked down the long table, shooting a cold glare at Eleni, who was shooting one back. "She was gonna dog him. I felt bad."

"But--"

"Look!" Alicia exploded on them, "I don't want to talk about it! Just leave me alone right now."

She stormed off, leaving her tray and smacking Freddy in the head one more time for fun.

* * *

For the last part of the day, Lawrence had spent it figuring out exactly how Alicia had ended up as his date to the Spring Fling. All he understood about the whole thing was Eleni telling him that she couldn't go to the dance with him, and right when she was about to say why, Alicia had cut in, claiming that he had asked her first. He figured that she must've been protecting him from whatever she was about to say.

But Eleni would never say something hurtful to him, right? Lawrence wondered if Alicia knew something he didn't.

The rest of the lunch period, all of the boys had questioned him on Alicia's actions. They kept asking him questions but never bothered to let him answer. He couldn't answer them anyway.

Alicia was pretty. That he could admit. But it was the way she was so... so... angry and aggressive. Yeah, those were the correct words. She was everything he wasn't, and she scared him. He tried to imagine a night with her, dancing with her and getting her punch. That's when it hit him. He couldn't dance.

Alicia was a backup singer, which meant that she knew how. They only really did small, little moves that satisfied Dewey, but he was sure Alicia could do more than that. How was he going to keep up with her?

After school, his mother had picked him up along with his little sister. Lawrence told her how he was taking Alicia to the dance and was happy to see that she smiled.

"She is a good singer," she said. "Why isn't School Of Rock performing at the dance?"

"Dewey says that playing at school dances and sweet sixteens are for pop artists posing as rock stars," Lawrence replied in a rehearsed tone, gazing out the window.

The rest of the ride home, they chatted about going to buy him a new suit for the dance after he finished his homework.

* * *

"Dewey, I need to talk to you," Alicia banged on her band leader's apartment. "Open up!"

When her mom had picked her up from school, she had told her to drop her off there. She needed to vent, and since she had snapped at Tomika, she knew Dewey would be the only one to listen.

Momentarily, Dewey opened up the door, hair falling into his eyes and stomach overlapping his boxer shorts. He had probably just woke up.

He scratched his scruffy chin lazily and cleared his throat. "Dude, Alicia, what're you doing here? We don't have practice today."

Alicia pushed past him, entering into the apartment. "You! I hope you know this is all your fault."

Dewey shot her a confused look and settled of the couch. "Huh?"

"You and that whole damn speech on being nice to my fellow bandmates. Just to let you know, I committed social suicide today. Not that I even had a social life," she crossed her arms and stared angrily at him.

"What happened?"

Just then, Ned walked into the living room looking pleasant. He was the complete opposite of Dewey.

"Oh, hey, Alicia. What brings you here?" he asked politely.

"This stupid ass right here," Alicia pointed to Dewey, who was now picking the dirt from his finger nails.

"Ok, ok, no need for names. Just tell me what happened."

"I'm going to the Spring Fling with Lawrence. He wanted to go with Eleni, but I heard her dissing him in the bathroom, and he doesn't know that. I saved him from complete embarrassment by embarrassing myself," she briefly explained.

Ned and Dewey exchanged confused looks. "What's wrong with Mr. Cool? He deserves to have a date more than anyone."

"That's the point. Mr. Cool isn't at school. He's a geek. Nobody was exactly lining up to go with me either, but now he might think I like him or something."

Dewey scratched his head and shrugged. "Still not understanding."

"Gosh, Dewey, you should really stick to music," Ned chuckled. "Alicia, just kindly explain to him that you're going with him as a friend and nothing more."

"But what if he wants to know about Eleni?"

"Do what you think is right."

Alicia collapsed in a chair, in a defeated manner. "I didn't even want to go to this stupid dance. Why me?"

"Of course you wanted to go," said Ned. "Certainly there's a special someone you wanted to ask you."

She shot him a serious look. "Don't even go there, Mr. Schneebly. You're trying to bond with the wrong girl today."

Dewey jumped up suddenly, grabbing Ned's arm. "Dude, did I tell you that Alicia totally passed into womanhood yesterday? She started her period!"

"Dewey!"

Ned turned red, getting up from the couch after shaking himself from his grip. "Um... no, you did not."

"I didn't forget about that margarita I promised you, babe. Ned, while you're in the kitchen, makes us a couple of margaritas," Dewey ordered him.

"I could certainly use one," said Alicia smoothly, leaning back in the comfortable arm chair.

Ned shot Dewey a stern look. "Dewey, no. Alicia, don't start drinking or you'll end up like him."

Alicia laughed as Dewey threw a pillow and hit him in the head.

When Alicia left Dewey's apartment, she felt a lot better. Ned had made her some lemonade as the alternative of the womanhood margarita, and she decided to practice with Dewey on her high notes. She had forgotten all about her predicament. Her mother came to get her, and when she got home, she called to apologize to Tomika about blowing up on her.

She told Tomika about what had actually happened with Eleni and Lawrence. Tomika was shocked and felt that it was right to talk to Lawrence about it or else he would think she had just interfered to spite him. Alicia agreed and said that she would talk to him first thing the next morning.

The following day Alicia leaned up against her locker, waiting for signs of Lawrence. She was going to talk to him and confess everything, including not really wanting to go to the dance with him. She couldn't get soft now, could she?

She glanced around the hallway not really paying attention anymore. Summer had some guy named Justin, or maybe it was Jake, carrying her books while she talked on her cellphone. It was amazing that she got past the teachers on that thing. She figured the guy carrying her books was her new boyfriend or perhaps just taking her to the dance. She saw Tomika and Zack coming down the hall... holding hands. Looked like Tomika had left out that part in their phone conversation the night before, but then again, she had said something about their parents having dinner together.

Tomika walked past her and shot a wide, excited smile at her. Zack nodded at her, and then nodded at Freddy across the hall. Freddy was leaning up against his locker with Marco and Marta, who were... kissing? When had that happened?

Alicia wanted to gag. She especially wanted to gag when some short, blond girl walked past and said 'hey Freddie'. Freddie nodded at the girl and smirked.

Freddy annoyed her. He was so full of himself, and he always teased her about something. She had given that boy more slaps than she had wanted to. It didn't help that she saw him first thing in the morning because his locker was right across from hers.

He spotted her and nodded to Marta and Marco to see them later. Alicia turned back to her locker, pretending to look in it. She did not want to deal with him today making fun of her and Lawrence.

She heard those annoying drum sticks of his banging on the locker next to hers loudly. She didn't look up, and he banged on her open locker door. Then he drummed on her head.

"Freddy!" she said smacking him in the ear.

"Ow! You have got to stop with the violence," he rubbed his ear, swearing under his breath.

"What could you possibly want? I'm sure you've run out of the period jokes," she closed her locker and cross her arms.

"Alicia, babe, you and Lawrence?" he snickered.

Alicia scowled at him wanting to grab one of those drumsticks out of his hand and whack him with it. "As if it's any of your business."

"So he's your new _boyfriend_? Hey, everyone, Alicia's got a _boyfriend_!" he roared to the kids in the hallway. A handful of them laughed.

She felt her anger rise within her. She looked away from him and through clenched teeth said, "he's not my boyfriend so shut up."

"You expect me to believe that? No really, what--"

"Lawrence!" shouted Alicia, spotting him.

She was so happy that at that moment Lawrence had been walking down to his locker. She ran over to him, leaving Freddy to do whatever he would do. Lawrence seemed alarmed that she was approaching him, and he tensed up.

* * *

Alicia had been running towards him. Lawrence didn't know what to make of this. She wasn't smiling, but she didn't look upset. Maybe she was going to tell him that she couldn't go to the dance after all. If she did, he'd be in trouble. He had already bought his new suit, and his parents had expected him to be going with her. He knew that if he didn't have a date, his parents probably wouldn't let him go at all.

"Lawrence," Alicia panted in front of him. "I need to talk to you right now."

"But class will be starting in seven minutes," he told her.

"That's how long it'll take if not quicker. Come on."

The kids seemed to be going into their respectable classrooms as she led him to the area under the stairs that was around the corner from their lockers. Lawrence got nervous fast. Would she try to kiss him or something? The palms of his hands were all sweaty, and he was aware of every hair on top of his head.

Before he could stop himself, he cried, "Please don't kiss me!"

Alicia backed up and blinked twice. "Boy, you done lost your mind. I do _not_ want to kiss you. That's just... wrong... on so many levels."

Lawrence relaxed and let out a big breath he wasn't aware that he was holding. "Oh, God, thank you. Then what do you want to talk about?"

Alicia glanced around to see if anyone was listening. "I want to tell you why I did what I did yesterday and promise you won't cry on me or anything."

"I promise," said Lawrence. He was really hoping he wouldn't be late to class.

Alicia took a deep breath. "Yesterday, I heard Eleni and her clone in the bathroom. They were making fun of you, laughing at how you asked her to the dance. She said that you were a dork and that she would never go with you. She's only nice to you 'cause you're in the band."

Lawrence felt his heart drop. Everything he thought about her came to his mind, and it felt like it was about to explode and seep out through his ears. He wanted to cry, to scream, to run away from Alicia and hide forever.

He believed her because she looked more sincere than he had ever saw her, and he knew that she wouldn't have stood up for him for the hell of it. Plus, it made sense. The giggling, the sudden glances his way, the way they all seemed to be laughing at him as if something was funny. Now he was angry, angrier than he had ever been.

"You're not going to cry on me, are you?" Alicia asked him, making a face.

"No."

"Are you mad at me? 'Cause I was just trying to save you from embarrassment. That's all."

"I'm not mad at you," he said quietly, looking down at the ground.

"And you know I don't like you like that, right?"

"Yes! God, I understand," Lawrence was now fuming. As if anyone would bother to like him.

"Hey, don't get smart with me. I just wanted you to know alright," Alicia snapped.

The bell rang, and Lawrence didn't even care if he was late to class. He wish he could delay seeing the girl he liked but now wanted to disappear off the face of the earth.

"Thank you for telling me this," he said to her. "We better get to class."

The two walked down the empty hall to their first class in silence. Lawrence felt his ears pounding and heat rising from his neck. He had never been so angry in his life. As soon as he and Alicia entered the class together, all eyes were on them. Mrs. Crosley sat down her chalk.

"Alicia, I just might have to give you detention for-- Lawrence?" Mrs. Crosley noticed him. "You're late as well?"

"He must've started his period today," smirked Freddy, causing all the boys to laugh quietly.

"I had to use the bathroom," Lawrence mumbled, ignoring the boys snickering.

"And Alicia?"

"Me too, but I'm sure you'll still give me a detention, huh?" Alicia sassed the teacher.

Mrs. Crosley looked away from Alicia and turned back to the chalkboard. "Please take your seats and start copying these notes."

For the rest of the class time, Lawrence glared over at Eleni. When she would look over at him and see this, she would frown and turn her attention back to the board. It was the same for the rest of the day.

During lunch he didn't sit with the boys. He sat by himself partly because he didn't feel like listening to Freddy, Zack, and the guys torture him about coming in late with Alicia and partly because he didn't want to be anywhere near Eleni.

He was just about to take up his tray when Alicia sat down in front of him with Tomika.

"The way we see it, Larry, is you've got three choices," Tomika said.

"One, we don't go to the dance knowing that we both want to go to the dance," said Alicia, counting off her fingers, "two, we go to the dance and have a horrible time, or three, we go to the dance and show all these assholes who Mr. Cool is."

"Don't call me that name," Lawrence shook his head angrily. "I'm not cool. I'll never be cool. Two years in the band and everyone still thinks I'm a loser."

Alicia crossed her arms with attitude. "Let me ask you something, Larry. Do you think I'm a witch?"

Lawrence wanted to be careful how he answered this. He had seen her smack Freddy a few times and didn't want her starting on him.

"Well, you can be a bit..."

"Bitchy," Tomika finished for him.

"See, everybody has opinions about everybody. Nobody in the band likes me, let alone would want to go to the dance with me," said Alicia.

"Weelll... " Tomika started off, smiling, but Alicia shot her a look to tell her not to go there.

"So what are we going to do about this?" she asked Lawrence.

Lawrence sighed and looked over at Eleni, Michelle, and Billy, who were all looking at him. The entire boys table was too, including Freddy, who was scowling at him. He knew what he wanted to do, and he was going to prove to all of these people that he wasn't some loser.

"We are going to that dance, and we're going to have fun, lots of fun, tons of fun, hours of fu--"

"Ok, I get it. Calm down," Alicia laughed, catching the light with her braces.

* * *

That night at practice, the atmosphere was very strange. Zack was playing his guitar extra intense as if trying to show off. Tomika was doing the same, singing louder and more passionate than usual. Marco had shown up to practice to ''run over the equipment count'' for the recording session next week, but he was really there for Marta. Marta's dancing seemed to approve over night. It looked like she was trying to seduce him with her glances.

Freddy was drumming the crap out of his drum set. He almost busted a drum head, and he ignored Dewey every time he told him to relax. The groupies were still being themselves, but Eleni was chanting Lawrence's name more usual. Lawrence kept screwing up the music. He seemed angry and unfocused, which Alicia understood.

She and Katie were the only ones acting normal, except she made more of an attempt to glare at Eleni and Michelle than ever.

Dewey seemed to notice that something was different too. He kept stopping the band, telling people what they were doing wrong. Then he'd stop them again when they didn't follow his orders. Alicia was getting tired of hearing 'Freddy, relax, dude. The drum did nothing to you', 'Marta, please, you and Marco can make out _after_ practice', 'Marco, stop blowing kisses at Marta. You're messing with her concentration', 'Zack, Tomika, you guys are overdoing it', but for once, he was laying off of her.

After awhile, Dewey finally got everyone calmed down, and they began to play normal. They were in the middle of a song when Alicia heard Eleni yell 'Lawrence, you rock!'. Lawrence then purposely jammed down on his keyboard angrily, screwing up everything. The band stopped playing and spun around to look at Lawrence.

"Will you shut up!" Lawrence shouted at her. "You're driving me crazy!"

"Woah, woah, Larry, dude," said Dewey, "What's wrong?"

"Tell them to leave, Dewey," Lawrence pointed at her and Michelle. "They're nothing but a distraction."

"Fine, I just won't shout your name!" Eleni shouted back. "You're nothing but some dumb keyboardist."

Lawrence scoffed, "Well at least I have a talent. What can you do? Shout people's name's, flirt with every guy in the band, make pathetic attempts to get in our band pictures. You're nothing but a... a... stupid ass!"

Everyone's mouth's dropped open and looked at Alicia, who smirked with pride. They had never heard Lawrence swear before, and everyone knew that 'stupid ass' was what Alicia usually said.

"Oook," Dewey said cautiously. "I think practice is over."

Lawrence grabbed his coat and was the first one out the door. Alicia ran after him.

"Lawrence! Lawrence, don't ignore me!" she yelled after him.

He stopped and spun around wildly. "You have to teach me how to dance! I'm going to show them, all of them!"

"Well, you sure just showed Eleni," Alicia laughed. "Stupid ass, eh?"

"I didn't mean to say that," Lawrence chuckled, calming down a little.

A few people passed them on the way out. Tomika and Zack left together, and Tomika said that she would call her later. Marco and Marta were next, then Michelle and Eleni. Eleni stuck her nose up in the air when she walked past them. Katie stopped to see if Lawrence was ok and gave him a hug before she left out. Freddy was last to leave.

"Nice way to ruin practice, _Larry_," said Freddy acidly.

"He didn't do anything, Freddy," Alicia stood up for him.

"He made Eleni cry. Just because she wouldn't go to a stupid dance with him."

"Then go chase after her. She's right up your alley. Stupid and most likely easy," she sneered.

"You don't know anything about what's up my alley, _babe_," Freddy got in her face, scowling.

"If you don't get out of my face..."

"That's right, Alicia, be a witch about everything 'cause that's all you can do," he said lastly, walking away.

When he disappeared down the stairwell, Alicia let out a frustrated growl. "I can't stand him."

She and Lawrence sat down on the steps to talk and wait for their parents to come and pick them up. They didn't bother to interrupt Dewey, who was probably already passed out on his mattress or downing a box of Ned's glazed donuts in front of the television.

"I didn't want to make her cry," mumbled Lawrence, staring at his shoe strings. "It just... hurts."

"Yeah," Alicia nodded. "I'm sure it does."

"I mean, I like her. I really like her. All I ever wanted was for her to notice me as more than a member of the band. Have you ever felt like that?"

"More than I'll ever admit."

"Really?" said Lawrence hopefully. "How did you deal with it?"

Alicia was quiet for a moment. If she wasn't kidding herself, she felt tears welding up in her eyes. "I didn't deal with it. I ignored it, I buried it under all of this stuff, and now, I wish I hadn't done it. It only leaves you lonely, bitter, and even more hurt."

Lawrence must've noticed the one tear that had slid down her face. When she put her hand up to wipe it away, he stopped her.

"You are not alone. You have friends, people who talk to you, and you have an amazing voice. The band would be nothing without you. You're very pretty, braces or not, and you're strong. I was afraid of you," he comforted her. "You're the only girl who can stand up to Freddy."

Alicia felt warm tears sliding down her face now. She knew Lawrence was trying to cheer her up, but she didn't want to sit there, crying in the arms of some random person. She didn't cry in front of people, not even her parents. She knew he had his own problems, and it wasn't fair to put hers on top of that. She wiped at her tears fiercely and stood up.

"My mom's probably here so I'd better get going," she said.

"Yeah, me too," Lawrence had stood up as well.

"I'll show you how to dance sometime. We'll give 'em a show."

She started to descend the stairs slowly, a million thoughts rushing through her head.

"Alicia," Lawrence called out to her.

She turned around, and he smiled at her timidly. "Thanks."

**(AN: 3 more chapters to go. Sorry if this was kind of... off. In this story, Alicia wears contacts, and her hair is still braided, although in a different style. Lawrence still looks the same, still tall. You might also notice that more of Alicia's POV is written than Lawrence's in this story. That's because a lot's going on with her that you as the reader probably don't recognize yet. Lawrence gives away more how he feels and is starting to feel, whereas Alicia is just angry and distant 'for no reason' but trust me, there's a reason for everything. Pay attention closely. Review please! Positive, and if not positive, then helpful. Again, thanks for reading and thanks to all those who left reviews and made me smile for an entire week :-D)**


	3. Hold That Thought

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of School of Rock, etc. **

Saturday meant that Lawrence wouldn't have to face anyone at school, including Alicia. The night before, she cried in front of him. He had never witnessed a crying girl, and he never had to comfort one either. It was strange to watch someone who seemed like she could take on the entire world let down her guard and cry. However, he still didn't rightly understand why she was crying in the first place.

When she had left him there standing in the stairwell of Dewey's apartment, he sat there a little longer thinking. He had told her thank you. He said it for multiple reasons, one being that she was willing to help him. She was willing to put whatever she was dealing with to the side to deal with him instead. No one had ever done that before, besides Dewey.

Whatever Alicia was dealing with was obviously making her alienate herself from people. Lawrence had alienated himself all on his own with no excuse at all. It made him feel guilty that he never really tried to interact.

Was he ready to deal with Eleni and the hurt she had given him? No, he wasn't. But would he turn into another Alicia because of it?

He was relieved when Summer showed up around 1 o'clock to go over English terms for next week's 'pop quiz'. Studying would get his mind off of everything. He liked that feeling.

"Hey, Lawrence," said Summer, waving her mother off and coming inside his house. "Sorry I'm late. I was on the phone all morning with the label."

"It's ok," said Lawrence escorting her into the living room where they usually studied. His father was at work and his mother was in the kitchen helping his sister bake cookies for her scout meeting later that night.

"I heard about practice last night," Summer gave him a look of sympathy. "Is everything alright?"

Summer was actually interested in what was going on with him? That was a first. It was worth a shot to tell her. Maybe she could make sense of things.

"Well, actually..." he started off, but Summer's cell phone went beserk.

"Hold that thought," she held a finger up to tell him to hold on and answered her phone.

Why was everyone always so quick to interrupt him? The boys did it, the girls did it, even Dewey did it sometimes. He sighed and opened up his English book and notebook to start without her.

"No, we've went through this," Summer talked into her phone, "My dress is green. Not blue, not yellow. Green. It's not that hard to find a tie! We have to match if we want to win Spring Fling King and Queen."

Lawrence was used to Summer's cell phone being her extra body part. It rang at least five times every time they got together to study. It was always an important business call, and he was usually very patient about it. It was her job as band manager to handle what Dewey was too lazy to handle.

"Sorry about that," she snapped her flip phone shut. "It was my date. He's freaking out over the dance."

"Oh."

"He's the entire reason this dance is even happening. He's amazing," Summer smiled dreamily.

Ok, thought Lawrence, if everything went horrible at the dance, he'd blame it on Josh or Jamie or whoever he was.

"By the way, I can't believe you're going with Alicia. She doesn't seem like the fun type," Summer made a face, opening up her books and taking out her notecards.

Hearing her name put Alicia back into Lawrence's head and how that one lonely tear had slid down her cheek. He wondered what she would be doing on a Saturday afternoon like this.

"Alicia's actually--"

Summer's cellphone interrupted him again, and this one was the manager of some venue downtown. She once again gave him that 'hold on a second' finger and excused herself into the entrance way of his house.

Now he was annoyed. Any other time he'd be ok with it, but it was like the cellphone was out to get him this time. Maybe it was a sign that he shouldn't talk about Alicia at all.

After Summer had wrapped up her phone call, they decided to skip small talk and jump right into studying. They studied for a good hour, her phone going off four more times. Two hours in, he was getting really tired of her Weezer ringtone. Finally, they were wrapping up and Lawrence was relieved.

The study session hadn't went as planned. The entire time, he was becoming irritated with Summer, which made him think about school, which made him think about everyone else in the band. So Eleni thought he was a dork? That meant that everyone else did too. This whole time, he had been fooled into thinking he was apart of something. It seemed ridiculous to conclude to this all because of some dance that he probably wouldn't remember in a couple of years, but now he didn't know what to think.

Everyone had gotten what they wanted out of the band hadn't they? Summer got her superiority, Zack got a chance to really express himself, Katie got a chance to expand her love in music, Tomika got confidence, Freddy discovered punk rock, Marta found her talent, and Alicia found another way to use her voice without snapping at someone. Hell, even Dewey got the awesome band he had wanted. But what did the band do for Lawrence, himself?

After the study session is when Summer would talk about all of her current grades with him. He usually sat there and listened, but when she started off complaining that she just _knew_ she had failed her Latin test, he found himself itching for a way to politely tell her to leave. He had a lot to think about, and Summer's false worries weren't on the top of his list.

Lawrence's mother came in, and Summer stopped mid-sentence. "Lawrence? Phone, Honey," she said, handing him the cordless.

"Huh?"

"The phone."

No one ever called for Lawrence, except Summer. He took the phone apprehensively and said hello.

"_Lawrence, hey, it's me, Alicia_," the voice on the other end spoke.

Oh.My.God. His body tensed up, and he completely froze.

"_Lawrence_?"

"Oh, uh, yeah?"

"_Sorry to call like this. Listen, are you busy_?"

He looked up at Summer, who gave him an impatient look, wanting to finish their conversation. "No. Not at all."

"_Good 'cause I was thinking we could start on your moves today. My mom wants to meet you, too. Is that ok_?"

"Um, well my mother is baking with my sister so she can't drop me off," he replied, turning away from Summer and his mother. They were trying to ease drop on his conversation.

_"Well, you see, that's why I called_," Alicia now sounded timid, _"I'm kind of right outside your house."_

Lawrence jumped up and went to the window. When he pulled back the blinds, he saw a yellow cab outside of his house. Alicia snapped her phone shut and gave a quick wave. He felt so relieved to see her for some reason. So much for having an Alicia-free day.

He clicked off the phone and turned to his mother. Both her and Summer were staring at him expectantly.

"Mom," he started off slowly and cautiously, "Can I go over to Alicia's today? We're working on a... project."

"Lawrence, I'm in all of your classes. We don't have any projects," Summer chimed.

"It's something Dewey wants us to do," Lawrence tried, but Summer was too fast for him.

"Dewey runs everything about the band by me first. He never said anything about a project."

"Umm..." he tried to think of something. His mother was smiling at him oddly.

"Lawrence, honey, if you want to visit your girlfriend, all you have to do is say that," she said kindly.

Lawrence blanched. Did his mother just say what he thought she just said? Alicia was not his girlfriend last time he checked, but maybe it would relax her to think so in order to let him ride in a cab back to her place.

"Ok, fine, you caught me," he said lamely. "She's right outside with a cab waiting,"

He waited for his mother to instantly say no, but instead, she and Summer hurried to the window. The doorbell rang, and they rushed to the door. As soon as Alicia stepped a foot in the door, Lawrence had already put on his shoes and was ready to go.

"Wait a minute," said his mother, turning on her motherly tone. "I want to know where you're going, when you'll be back, and if you have enough to pay the cab driver. I also want a phone number so I know where to reach you, and--"

Alicia stepped up to the plate. "I live on Broad St. downtown, and he'll be back definitely before dinner, unless he wants to stay over for dinner. My number is 555-1285, and my mom will be around so we'll call if anything is up."

"What about me?" Summer spoke up. "How am I suppose to get home?"

Alicia shrugged carelessly, and Lawrence wanted to laugh.

"But my mom's not due for another half hour. I told her that we were going to hang out and chat for a bit," she sounded betrayed.

"You have a cell phone. Use it. You do any other time," said Alicia with no remorse, and Summer shot her an insulted look.

"Uh, Summer," Lawrence's mom broke in, "How about you finish baking with Sarah and I until your mom comes."

Summer was about answer when her phone rang. She flipped it open, completely forgetting about everyone around her.

"Hello? What do you mean you're having problems with the graphic Ts?" she went off on whomever was on the other end. "You can design an entire projection background, but you can't make a design on a T-shirt? Then call Billy. Come on, Gordon, make my job a little easier. I don't care! I said I wanted 300 T-shirts in my possession by tomorrow. Do it or I'll fire you. Oh yes I can!"

Alicia looked at Lawrence lamely, "Is she serious?"

"Trust me, it's been worse," Lawrence whispered back, as Summer was now threatening Gordon's life.

Lawrence didn't wait til Summer got off the phone to leave. As soon as his mother gave him the go ahead, he left as fast as he could with Alicia. They drove around in silence, Lawrence staring out the window and Alicia staring out the other. It was uncomfortable, but free at the same time.

Finally Alicia broke the silence. "So what was Summer doing at your house?"

He turned from the window to her, "We were studying."

"I thought you said you weren't busy."

Lawrence smiled timidly, "Would you want to spend an afternoon with Summer and her cellphone?"

He couldn't believe he had just said that about the one person who actually was somewhat like a friend to him. When Alicia laughed at his comment, he shrugged and glanced out the window again.

There was another silence, as he watched the large houses start to get smaller as they went deeper downtown. Lawrence had never been downtown besides to Dewey and Ned's apartment. He and many of his classmates lived on the more wealthy part of town, but some of them lived in the middle class part of town. Zack Mooneyham lived in a brownstone other than a large house, but Lawrence figured it must've been more fancy inside.

"Why were you in front of my house?" he blurted as the cab turned the corner.

"I dunno. I was going for a ride, and I saw your house and decided that I had some free time."

"Your parents let you take a cab all by yourself around town?" he asked her.

"I'm not three years old. I dont need a grown up to help me cross the street," said Alicia, shrugging, "As long as I have money to pay, I'm good. I like being independent."

He respected that Alicia was so independent. She most likely could handle herself in a difficult situation, but he, on the other hand, probably wouldn't even begin to know how to use public transportation.

About twenty minutes later, they arrived at Alicia's brownstone. It was a sunny day outside, and many of the neighborhood kids were outside. Some were jump roping, some were just sitting outside talking, and some were racing bicycles up and down the street. It had a homey, warm atmosphere to it, something that his neighborhood lacked.

A little girl, who looked no older than seven, came running up to Alicia, hugging her around her legs. "Leisha, my mommy wants to know can you french braid my hair later."

"Ok, I got you at, like, eight tomorrow night," Alicia said in the kindest voice Lawrence had ever heard from her. "Tell Miss Sharmayne it's 10 dollars."

"Ok," said the little girl, and she went running the way she came from to join some girls who were playing double dutch.

"Hey, Alicia!" one of them called. "You up for some double dutch?"

"Nah, not today," shouted Alicia to them. "I got company."

"You're not going to introduce us to your boyfriend? I see how it is," the other sounded like she was pretending to be offended.

Lawrence felt himself blush. Alicia gave him a sympathetic look and pulled him along. "Come on. I'll introduce you to some of the girls on my block."

Lawrence followed her two brownstones down to meet these very tough, yet friendly looking girls, who had stopped their game of double dutch.

"Lawrence, this is Tay Tay, Nikki, and Jordan. And this is Jordan's little sister, Jamie," Alicia pointed out the little girl who had hugged her. "Guys, this is Lawrence. He's in the band with me."

"Oh, you're one of those Horace Green rich kids," said Nikki.

Lawrence didn't know how he should answer that. The way she had said it sounded like going to Horace Green was a terrible thing.

"Ignore them," Alicia shook her head. "They go to Forest Hill Public. They make fun of me for going to Horace Green all the time. Stop picking on him, guys. He's kinda shy."

"It's cool, it's cool," laughed Tay Tay, shaking Lawrence's hand and giving him a quick hug. "Nice to meet you."

They said their goodbyes and went back to Alicia's house. She had her own key and everything. His parents would never trust him with one. When they entered, the house had a warm feeling to it, and the living room was right off on the right. The walls were tan and the curtains were the same color, in which the sun was shining through, giving everything a creme color. Before Lawrence saw anything else in the living room, he saw an exquisite piano sitting in the corner.

"You have an old Baldwin?" he asked, lighting up. "Can you play?"

"Yeah right," said Alicia moved to his side. "I can play, like, one song. Nothing special. It was my grandmother's. She wanted us to have it, but it's been collecting dust."

Lawrence made his way over to it and sat down on the wooden seat, running his fingers across the keys lightly, feeling completely at home. A song popped into his head, and he let himself go, the music taking him away from the world.

* * *

Alicia listened as Lawrence started to play something grand and beautiful without any music at all. It sounded like something Beethoven worthy. His fingers looked as though they were barely touching the keys, and he looked like he was completely in his own world. He never looked like that when he played keyboard. Never. She walked over to the side of the piano and watched him play, feeling at ease.

He sure didn't look like that when she had shown up at his house. Well, he did look a mixture of boredom, shock, and relief, but she supposed she would've felt the same if he just randomly showed up at her house. She hadn't meant to. She had awaken that morning, needing time to think about the night before and had decided to go for a cab ride around uptown to look at all of the large houses. She usually did this with Tomika when they were bored.

She wasn't as rich as Katie, Lawrence, Summer, and even Zack for that matter, and she enjoyed riding around for an hour to see how the other side lived. She wasn't exactly poor or anything. Her father was in the military, and that's how they paid for her to go to Horace Green. She often liked to point out their houses to herself, except for Zack's, because he only lived about six blocks over in one of those hot shot brownstones.

She was feeling a bit lonely and desolate, and when she had saw Lawrence's house, something in her happened, and she told the cab driver to pull over. She had called him from her cell phone, praying that he was home and that she wasn't making a fool out of herself. She used teaching him how to dance as an excuse to get him to hang out with her because if she hung out with Tomika, all she would do is talk about Zack.

When he finished off the song, it was quiet for a moment until she found her voice again. "That was beautiful? Mozart or something?"

Lawrence chuckled a bit. "No. I actually wrote it. It's not brilliant or anything. It's actually very--"

"No, it was really, really beautiful. How did you learn how to play like that?" she asked him.

"Practice," he said shrugging.

Alicia scoffed. "Yeah, whatever. I've taken piano lessons before, and I could never do what you just did... without reading the music especially."

She really thought this kid was amazing. He looked happy, like he felt right at home. She liked to see him like that.

"Well," Lawrence started off timidly. "It's like when I feel the keys, I feel everything else fade away. I can just be myself, and as long as I'm true to the music, I have no problems at all. Stupid, huh?"

Alicia sat down on the wooden seat next to him at the piano. "No. It's actually pretty cool. I feel like that when I sing. Like all of my worries and problems just disappear, and no one is trying to hurt me. I just close my eyes and pretend that everyone wants to hear me sing to give them that same feeling."

"Is that why you're still in the band?" he asked her.

"Yeah. Isn't that why you're still in the band?"

"No," he admitted. "I just like feeling apart of something, which I guess I really don't. I don't love the keyboard as much as I love the classic piano."

"Me and you, we put up with a lot in the band, huh?"

"At least you get to make up the dances and sing, even though Dewey's always telling you about hogging the mic."

"Hey, stupid ass, I don't hog the mic. The microphone just loves me," Alicia laughed, "And that's not really singing and dancing. _This_ is singing an dancing."

She grabbed up the remote to the living room TV and kicked off her shoes with a big smile. She spun around dramatically to him and began singing the beginning of 'Rollin' on the River'.

Lawrence started cracking up as she walked seductively toward him, singing to him. She was just kidding with him to loosen him up for their little dance session, but she was actually having fun. She liked to see him laugh when yesterday he had been really upset.

To finish off, she playfully climbed on top of the piano with much struggle and layed down on it like a lounge singer. She smiled at Lawrence, who started clapping. "Bravo! Bravo!"

"Tomika isn't the only one who can belt it, you know."

"Alicia Danielle, if you don't get off of that piano," came her mother's voice.

They immediately stopped laughing, and Alicia hopped off, straightening her shirt. "Sorry, Mom."

"And this must be Lawrence," beamed her mother, brushing past her to hug Lawrence. Alicia couldn't help but notice how awkward he looked in her mother's embrace. She wanted to laugh so bad. "Nice to meet a band member. Alicia never introduces me to any of you kids. I knew it couldn't have been her down here playing the piano like that."

When she pulled away from him, Lawrence said, "Nice to meet you, ma'am."

"Awh, you're so polite. Alicia, keep this one," her mother smiled cheerfully. "He's marriage material."

"Mom!" she cried in embarrassment.

Her mother dismissed her and asked Lawrence if he wanted anything to drink, and he declined. Alicia helped herself to a soda in the kitchen, and when she came back, Lawrence was looking at all of her family pictures on top of the fire place. This made Alicia pretty nervous, considering there were so many pictures of her when she was younger. Her teeth were really crooked in some, and she remembered those horrible school pictures of her with her glasses.

"Um... we can head upstairs to my room right now and get started. Is that ok with you?" she asked him, hoping to get him away from the embarrassing photos.

"Sure," he said quietly, following her out of the living room and up the stairs.

* * *

Lawrence made his way up the stairs to Alicia's room feeling pretty...well... afraid. He had never been in a girl's room. He barely went into his sister, Sarah's room.

Alicia stopped at a door on the left and opened it. He didn't know what he was supposed to expect, but he hadn't expected light purple walls and a bed full of fuzzy stuffed animals. He figured Alicia liked baseball bats and punching bags, not stuffed animals.

He took a look around her room, taking in the purple and green poka-dotted bed spread, posters of Alicia Keys, Usher, and the one that really stood out was Linkin' Park. Her room was medium sized. The black fluffy rug on the floor was fuzzy and felt good under his socks, and a vanity with miscellaneous beauty products on top of it was sitting the corner.

"What's wrong?" Alicia asked him.

"What?" he turned his attention to her. "Oh. Nothing."

"Are you surprised?"

"About what?"

"About my room. Be honest," she plopped down on her bed.

"Well, it's not very... Alicia like," he admitted. "It's very... girlie."

"Just because I'm a so-called witch to all of those stupid asses at school doesn't mean I'm not a girly-girl."

Lawrence laughed a bit. "You know what that reminds me of?"

"What?"

"The 'Legend of the Rent' song Dewey had us doing a few years ago. You know?" he said, starting to sing timidly and off key, "_You're not Hardcore, unless you live hardcore_."

Alicia exploded into a fit of laughter at his horrible singing voice. He felt himself blush and added, "This room definitely isn't hardcore."

"And neither is your singing voice," she retorted, laughing even harder. "Should I school you on that too?"

"No. Just stick to the dancing."

They stopped and just stared at each other for awhile, laughs subsiding. He was actually having fun, and he knew she was too. He had never openly joked with someone before or laughed openly. Everything had happened so unrealistically fast, and he could already see the changes made in himself. He hadn't meant for it to happen, but it was like he was becoming more of who he wanted be. He decided that he liked being around Alicia. Her mere presence brought out the best in him.

Alicia hopped up from her bed and went over to her stereo, turning it on. "Let's start off with the basics."

A slow song that he had never heard of came on, and Lawrence could feel his heart beating in his chest. A slow song? He hadn't thought of that.

Alicia looked nervously at him as she made her way back to him. She stood directly in front of him, and he grew stiff when she reached for his hands.

"Lawrence, relax," she told him. "I'm not going to attack you. Just... just put your hands on my waist like this."

She lightly placed his hands around her waist, and he could feel the curve of her hips. She slowly looped her arms around his neck, and with a foot in between them, they began to move back and forth awkwardly. Alicia was looking up at him with her wide brown eyes, and he was trying to concentrate on the song, his feet, and his hands on her petite body all at the same time.

Thoughts immediately filled his head. Would he feel this nervous at the dance? Would they dance closer? Should he move in closer? Alicia looked at him and then looked away. He felt his cheeks turn red. Surely he could not be gaining a crush on her.

As much as he hated to admit it, he still liked Eleni. He couldn't just get over her overnight as much as he wanted to. He closed his eyes and started to pretend Alicia was Eleni. 'Lawrence, you're the most awesome keyboard player ever' she was saying. Then Eleni had turned back into Alicia saying 'the way you play the piano is so wonderful'. Then back to Eleni, then back to Alicia, then back to Eleni, who was saying 'how graceful he was dancing with her'. Then Alicia...

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

He opened his eyes and found himself inches away from Alicia's face. He had been leaning in to kiss her.

"Oh, um, I didn't... I'm sorry," he mumbled, dropping his hands from her waist.

She stepped away from him and gave him a sad look. "I thought I told you that I didn't like you like that."

"I know," he tried to explain himself. "I just... I was thinking of something else."

Alicia plopped down on her bed. "Let me guess... Eleni. Sit down so I can educate you on something."

Lawrence took a seat next to her on her bed apprehensively. It seemed like Alicia's mood was about to change back into the Alicia he'd known for two years.

"Having crushes on people is a waste of time. Having a crush means you're weak for someone, but they're not weak over you. You secretly admire them from a distance when really you want to just make a stupid ass out of yourself and confess everything, but you know if you did, you'd never hear the end of it from that person because they wouldn't even bother to feel the same," she started to ramble on, Lawrence slightly dodging her hand movements. "Then they make your life a living hell, and all you can do is just say 'screw it, I hate you' and then... where was I? Oh, crushes are a waste of time. Sometimes you gotta look out for number one if you don't want to get hurt."

Lawrence simply blinked. "Oook?"

Alicia looked at him and then shook her head, "You know what? Just forget about all of that. My point is, get over Eleni. Now come on. Let's learn how to fast dance."

* * *

For the rest of that day, Alicia and Lawrence did less talking and more dancing. She taught him how to feel the beat of the music in order to adjust his body. He was stiff, and she'd start shaking him, trying to get him 'loosey goosey'. One hour went by, then two, then three. By that time, her mother was calling her and Lawrence down for dinner.

There were four plates sitting out which meant one thing. Her father was coming home.

"Hey, Sarge!" she shouted when he walked in the door, dressed in his military uniform. She ran up to him and gave him a large hug.

"Hey, little girl," said her father, "Sergeant reporting for dinner. What are we having?"

"Mashed potatoes, corn, chicken, and sweet potatoes," Alicia told him, leading him into the kitchen where her mother and Lawrence was.

"Mmhmm, I could smell those sweet potatoes from down the street," he smiled.

Alicia's dad was a rugged looking guy who was built like a truck. He was tall and muscular and looked like he could eat steel for breakfast. He had that look that someone had made him very upset, but Alicia knew he was just as soft as a teddy bear.

She had learned a lot of her discipline from him, right along with her temper and attitude. She wouldn't dare give her parents attitude, but they had no problem with her standing up for herself.

"And who is this?" her father asked as soon as he saw Lawrence.

"This is Lawrence," said Alicia, noting how scared Lawrence suddenly looked. "He's taking me to the Spring Fling dance."

"Attenhut!" her father roared.

Alicia motioned for Lawrence to stand up. Lawrence understood and stood up timidly.

"Stand up straight, boy!" ordered her father.

Lawrence did as told and shot a nervous glance over at Alicia.

"About face!" shouted her father.

Alicia again helped him out and motioned for him to turn around and face her dad. He did that and her father paced past him, eyeing him intensely, checking him out.

Finally he looked Lawrence square in the eye and said, "So you're going on a date with my daughter, correct?"

"Yes."

"Yes _Sir_!"

"Yes, Sir."

"And how is it that you know my daughter, Son?"

"We are in the band together, Sir," Lawrence barely whispered.

Alicia's father narrowed his eyes. "State your purpose."

"I'm here to have dinner, Sir," answered Lawrence.

"I meant your purpose in the band, _School of Rock_, Son," her father spat.

"Um, I play keyboard, son, I mean, Sir," Lawrence fumbled.

Alicia held in a snicker. Her father had acted that same way when he had met Dewey after their first rock show ever two years ago at Battle of the Bands.

Her father considered Lawrence for a moment before saying, "You may not kiss my daughter, you may not touch my daughter, you may not--"

"Dad, how are we supposed to dance if he can't touch me?" Alicia broke in, smirking.

"Honestly, Antoine, sit down and let the girl enjoy her company. You're scaring the poor boy," chimed her mother, giving him a kiss.

He smiled at his wife, then looked at Lawrence and said "You're lucky my wife and daughter are here, or I'd eat you alive, Son. At ease."

Alicia told Lawrence that he could sit down now, and the rest of dinner went on peacefully. After dinner, Alicia told her parents that she was taking a cab back to Lawrence's house. Her parent's could've taken them, but she wanted to have a nice peaceful drive with him.

* * *

Lawrence sat there in the taxi cab, laughing with Alicia over her father's actions at dinner. He found out that it was rare when her father could make it home for dinner, considering he was so busy with his job in the military. He often traveled without the family because her mother wasn't very eager to pick up and move from place to place. Alicia told him that she was a daddy's girl, and the fact that he was away so much of the time made her kind of sad.

"I thought I was going to wet myself," Lawrence shook his head amusingly, and Alicia cracked up.

"Me too. The look on your face was priceless. I think I actually saw a drop of sweat," said Alicia. "He's just very protective over me. Give him time, and he'll recognize you as one of my best friends."

They exchanged looks and looked away.

"I mean," she shrugged, "you're a lot cooler than I thought. I like being friends with you."

"I like being friends with you too, Alicia," he replied timidly, "I never thought you'd be this much fun to hang out with."

"Lawrence, I'm only like that at school 'cause stupid people annoy me and bother me all the time. At home, in my neighborhood, I'm just Alicia. Not 'Witch', not 'Braceface', not 'Babe', just... Alicia."

"You know, this may sound stupid, but today is the only time I've seen you so... laid back and happy, other than when we're doing a show," Lawrence admitted, as they passed by their middle school.

"'Cause that's the only time I _am_ happy and not... thinking about stuff."

"Are you ever going to tell me what 'stuff' is?"

"No."

Lawrence shrugged and stared out of the window the rest of the time. When they reached his house twenty minutes later, they casually walked to his front door. It was already dark out, and a couple of lights were on inside.

The two stood at the door, rocking back and forth on their heels.

"Thanks for coming over today," said Alicia. "I had a lot of fun. We should get together after practices too so we can get you ready for next saturday."

"Was I horrible?" asked Lawrence, referring to his dancing.

"Honestly?" smiled Alicia, "You were worst than horrible."

They both started to laugh and she added, " but it's ok. We have all week minus Wednesday. Are you excited to record?"

"Sure, I guess. You?"

"Oh yeah. Dewey deserves this. He's always been there for us, and it's kind of like a gift to him that we finally got a record deal."

"It's a gift to all of us. It seems like it was just yesterday that he had us at the front of the classroom playing 'Smoke On the Water'," said Lawrence.

"Listen, about the band," Alicia started off hesitantly, "Even though we don't exactly mix with everyone, the point is, we're all a team. If one person was missing, _School of Rock _would be incomplete. I try to remember that whenever I just want to storm out on everyone."

"What are you trying to say?"

"What I'm trying to say is... don't quit the band. I know you've been thinking about it since yesterday. We need you just as much as Zack or Katie, even Marta. So don't go thinking that it's not worth it, ok?"

Lawrence understood and nodded. "Just as long as you're there to go chasing after me after I've flipped out on everyone."

"Of course. Besides, now that you got Eleni and Michelle banned from practice, who else is going to go fetch me water?" she jokingly punched him in his arm.

They hugged each other goodbye, and Alicia kissed him on the cheek. Lawrence felt himself blush and said goodnight to her as she walked away and got back into the taxi cab. Suddenly, the dance couldn't come soon enough.

**(AN: Two more Chapters to go! Yay? This chapter is dedicated to Robert Tsai! Did everyone know that he writes his own music? I read it somewhere on some remote website interview with him, and I think that it's pretty cool that he's such a wonderful piano player and has a great talent. That entire piano scene was inspired completely by him. Now about this chapter, I wanted to show Alicia's house and where she comes from. That whole cab thing is a little far fetched, but hey, he needed to escape from Summer didn't he? I basically just wanted a chapter of them spending time together and getting to know the true people they are. Thanks everyone for reading, and please don't think I'm stuck up for not responding to your reviews and things. Believe it or not, I'm a very busy girl :-D... next chapter won't be posted for a couple of weeks :-( sry Review please! Positive, and if not positive, then helpful.) **


	4. Balls

**Disclaimer: I don't not own any of the characters of School Of Rock**

**(AN: I must tell you now before you jump into this that, well... I lied. I have decided to add one more chapter to the story before the actual last chapter. I thought I would be able to fit it all in, but there's just no way that I could've joined 'technically' two chapters together. So there will be one last chapter before drum roll please the 'big' dance. I doubt it will be as long as the other ones, but for a warning, there's no guarantee about that. Enjoy)**

Sunday had went by fast. So had Monday and so had Tuesday. But Wednesday was smack dab in the middle, and it seemed to take forever to end. The hallways were crowded with fresh, new couples, and everyone had the upcoming dance to thank for that one. The girls grouped up to talk about how they were wearing their hair, what color their dress was, and how they were going to get that first kiss. The boys hung out in between classes and bragged about who's date was prettier, dancing skills, and most importantly, how much kissing experience they had, most of them lying.

Wednesday afternoons meant Gym class. One thing that Lawrence hated was gym. He was the guy who always made up some excuse to get out of playing dodge ball or a game of kick ball. He'd say things like 'um, I didn't bring my safety goggles for my glasses today. Make I sit this one out?' or 'my foot really hurts. I don't think I'll be able to kick the ball, Mr. Standish'.

Lawrence didn't own any 'safety goggles'. The phys ed. department provided them for students with glasses, but he hated wearing them. He thought they made him look even more weird and awkward than he already did. As for his foot excuse, him not being able to kick the ball had nothing to do with his feet hurting. Once, he had went to kick the ball and had landed flat on his back, all of the boys laughing at him. During a game of basketball the year before, someone had accidentally hit him in the face with the ball while passing it to him. Needless to say, it had almost broken his nose, and he sat out for the rest of that game. But no, that wasn't the worst gym experience ever.

The worst gym experience ever was the locker room after class. Since it was middle school, showers weren't a big thing after gym, but Lawrence could never forget that one day, that horrible, horrible day after playing a grueling game of soccer.

He could remember Zack sniffing around, saying, "Dude, what's that smell?"

"Yeah, man, I smell it too. I didn't wanna say anything," Gordon had said after that.

"Someone farted!" Freddy had shouted, sending the guys into a fit of immature laughter. "It was you, wasn't it Billy!"

"As if," Billy had answered, spraying himself with some cologne that caused them to choke on air.

Lawrence had stood there quietly, dressing himself back into his uniform. Freddy had gone sniffing around everyone, making faces, but his face really cringed when he had reached Lawrence.

"Woah, Larry, Dude," Freddy had said loudly, "It's you. You smell like... dead fish or something. Haven't you ever heard of deodorant, man?

Lawrence had turned a bright shade of red, afraid to look anyone in the eye. They had all laughed and began to throw deodorant tubes at him. Yes, it had been him giving off the horrid stench that filled the boys' locker room. He would've never lived it down if Billy hadn't pulled him aside politely, told him to wash under his armpits, and to apply some deodorant. Billy had given him his tube, saying in a disgusted tone, 'Uh, keep it. I have more'. Puberty hadn't been a fun thing for Lawrence, and gym class had a way of taunting him about it.

He had really hairy legs already in which the hairs were thick and black. He felt like Big Foot sometimes, and wearing shorts didn't exactly boost his confidence. He had developed a lot more than the other boys, along with Billy, Freddy and Zack. Freddy and Billy had grown a couple of inches, but Zack was now lanky and almost Lawrence's height. Technically, Lawrence and Frankie were the tallest boys so far, but it was only a matter of time when everyone would sprout up. Gym class was puberty central. Boys were always flexing their nonexistent muscles, and hormones seemed to get higher and higher every Wednesday. If they weren't talking about the opposite sex, they were making fun of each other for lack of attractive qualities. Lawrence was even more quiet in the locker room. He always silently got dressed and waited out in the hallway until the bell rang for their last class of the day.

On this Wednesday, Lawrence refused to embarrass himself. He made up some excuse about his ankle hurting, but Mr. Standish had finally caught on to him.

"Larry, you're not getting out of this today," said Mr. Standish.

"But, sir, really. My ankle--"

"You heard what I said," the gym teacher replied with much annoyance. "Now get out there with the other boys and line up."

Lawrence hung his head and did as told. He got in between Billy and Frankie while Mr. Standish took attendance. After that, the boys were ordered to do stretches and do five laps around the gym. Gordon only had to do three because of his asthma. Lawrence wished he had asthma. He and Gordon were always itching for a way to get out of doing gym, but Gordon had another approach to it. He would give Mr. Standish fake passes to go to the computer lab or library or to take a make up quiz. If all else failed, use the asthma excuse.

"Ok, boys, today we're playing good old fashion dodge ball again," announced the teacher proudly.

Billy let out an 'oh no', Frankie smirked and slammed his fist into the palm of his hand coolly, and Zack shrugged nonchalantly. Lawrence wanted to cry.

"Now, we all know who the champion of last week's game was, " Mr. Standish went on. "Freddy, take a step forward."

Freddy smirked and pumped his fists in the air. "Who's ready to take on the Spaz Man this week?"

"Enough showing off, Jones. Now, team one's captain is Freddy, and... Billy, you're team number two's captain."

"But I don't wanna be captain."

"Fine, Gordon--"

"No way, sir. Besides, I'd probably have trouble with my asthma. I think I'd better sit this one out," said Gordon, puffing off of his inhaler nervously.

"What's the matter with you boys? Does anyone have any leadership skills at all?" Mr. Standish shook his head sadly.

"They're just not ready to take me on. I mean, who would want to?" said Freddy, crossing his arms and mimicking the teacher, shaking his head.

"Jones, I said enough bragging."

"I'll be the stupid captain," Zack stepped up.

"No way, man," demanded Freddy. "I need you on my team."

"Enough of this! Lawrence, you're captain," Mr. Standish told him, ignoring Lawrence's dropped jaw. "No more arguing about it. Now, boys, choose your teams. Freddy, you go first."

"Ok," Freddy rubbed his hands together, warming up for the game. "Zack Attack."

Zack took a step forward and went over to Freddy.

It was Lawrence's turn. He had no clue who to pick. If he picked Frankie, he'd probably get mad that he wasn't on Freddy's team. If he picked Billy, they'd lose for sure. Wait, was he actually trying to win? He decided that it was just a stupid game, and he'd probably get out with the first ball.

"Marco," he cried out.

Marco didn't seemed to be bothered by this. He stepped forward, and slowly but surely, the teams were forming.

"Frankie."

"Leo."

And so on and so forth. Billy was the last one picked, and he had ended up on Lawrence's team after all. Gordon got to sit on th bleachers comfortably and watch the game from afar. The boys took their positions across the gym from each other. The red balls that Lawrence hated so much were rolled out and placed into the middle. Mr. Standish gave the whistle, and it was every man to fend for himself.

* * *

"Is she trying to kill us!" Tomika panted, taking a minute to rest her hands on her knees.

Wednesdays meant that the girls and the boys didn't have music class. Instead, they had separate gym classes. The boys had gotten the gym, which meant the girls had gotten the track out back of Horace Green Middle School. Gym with Mrs. Horfield meant death. She was new to the school, and she was a lot tougher as a gym teacher than Mr. Standish.

Katie collapsed on the ground, her face flushed with redness. "I think that's exactly what she's doing."

Alicia jogged in place next to them, straight face. "You guys need to build up your stamina. How're you gonna let Eleni and freakin' Michelle double you guys around the track?"

Tomika and Katie shot her annoyed looks.

"Sorry, girl," Tomika put her hands on her hips defiantly, "but not all of us have a marine for a father."

"That has nothing to do with it," Alicia stopped her jogging and crossed her arms.

"Weren't not all skinny minnies like you either."

"Hey, Tomika, is that Zack?" Alicia said in a surprised tone, pointing towards the set of doors to enter the school.

Tomika looked expectantly, and Alicia laughed and darted off.

For some reason, Alicia was in a great mood. The band was going to record today, she had learned her father was going to be there the night of the dance, and school wasn't a drag for once. Hell, even Freddy was laying off of her. In fact, he had been for the entire week so far. She had Friday to thank for that maybe. And Lawrence. She had fun with him that following Saturday. It was different than hanging out with Tomika. He was a new face, a new personality that maybe she had a lot more in common with than she thought. In a short period of time, she felt like she could trust him, count on him. It was the beginning of a good friendship, and Alicia was surprised at herself for allowing it to even happen.

When she finished her laps with the other girls, Tomika and Katie were still in the same place. Alicia laughed and plopped down next to them on the gravel track, taking in the new feeling of the hot sun. It was finally warming up outside. Spring was here.

Mrs. Horfield blew her whistle. "Good hustle girls. Tomika and Katie, you still have one more lap to do."

"Water... please," Katie gripped her throat, speaking in a dry tone.

"Stop being dramatic and finish your laps," the strict woman ordered her and Tomika. They rolled their eyes, got up, and began a slow jog around the track.

Alicia and the rest of the girls went to get a drink of water at the water fountain, waiting for Katie and Tomika to finish. She bent down and let the coolness splash in her mouth.

"I'm going with an eighth grader. He's so hot. Better than any boy in our grade," she heard Eleni behind her say to Michelle.

So Freddy hadn't taken her advice. That was a bit surprising. He had actually done something smart in his life.

"I mean, who's better? Hot eighth grader Chris or some loser like, I dunno, Lawrence? I personally think losers should go with other losers," Eleni laughed.

Alicia sucked in a mouth full of water, turned around, and saw Eleni smirking at her. Before she could stop herself, she spit the water into Eleni's face. Eleni let out a shrill scream, and Michelle's jaw dropped in horror. Summer flung her hand to her mouth, holding in a laugh, and Marta burst out laughing.

Alicia was just about to say something smart aleck, when Mrs. Horfield came storming over, clipboard in her hand.

"Is there a problem over here, ladies?"

"She... she spit on me!" Eleni cried out loud, pointing her finger at Alicia.

"Actually, it was water," Alicia shrugged nonchalantly.

Mrs. Horfield's eyes blazed with anger. "Alicia, I would expect nothing more from you."

"Are you trying to say that my mouth's dirty?"

"It is if you've been kissing Lawrence!" Eleni sneered, hands on her hips.

Alicia tried to lunge at Eleni, but Mrs. Horfield held the two girls apart. Katie and Tomika, huffing and puffing, came over to the water fountain to see what all of the commotion was about.

Alicia felt her body tense up from embarrassment. "You... evil... self-centered... wannabe Freddy's personal groupie... Bi--"

"Alicia! That's enough. You're benched for today," Mrs. Horfield growled.

Alicia smacked her teeth and rolled her eyes, and she also gave her a detention for that day after school. She turned around to find Tomika and Katie giggling wildly at what Alicia was about to say and benched them as well.

It wasn't as though being benched was a bad thing. It meant that they didn't have to get sweaty for no reason or do relay racing around the track. However, it did mean that they got a F for that day. They took their seats on the cold, steel benches and watched the other girls line up and receive their relay teams and batons. Eleni was Michelle's partner, Marta was Summer's partner, and so on and so forth.

Alicia felt herself cooling down. She was not going to let someone as stupid as Eleni get to her over something so stupid. Why let that ruin a good day? She laid down on her back on the bench, staring up at the sky. Tomika sat two bleachers up, her elbows on her knees and chin rested in her hands. Katie sat next to her, leaning back against the bleacher behind her, wind blowing through her hair slightly. They looked like a couple of girls that had just found out they hadn't made the cheerleading squad even though that's definitely not how they felt.

"Do you think it's going to be like this in high school?" asked Katie, watching the girls begin their races with boredom.

"Like what?" asked Alicia.

"Like this. I mean, we'll be the rebels sitting on the bleachers, dreading gym class and watching all of the popular girls toss their hair and show off in front of the boys practicing on the other side of the track field."

"Rebels? We're not rebels. We're just..."

"Defiant of authority and pathetic when it comes to physical activity?" Tomika suggested.

"Something like that," chuckled Alicia.

"Well, I think we'll be rebellious in high school," Katie told them. "I mean, Summer's gonna be student council whatever so she'll be popular. Marta, well I dunno about her, but I figure she'll be some jockette. Probably try softball or something hardcore like that. And Eleni and Michelle..."

"...Cheerleaders!" all three chimed together.

Eleni and Michelle's team had just won the relay, and they were giggling and giving each other high fives.

_"Like, Oh my God, We totally won, Michelle_!" Alicia mocked them in a high pitched voice. "They make me nauseous."

Tomika and Katie laughed at her comment.

"What do you think we'll be like, Katie?" asked Tomika.

"I told you. Rebels."

"Yeah, but there are, like, different types of rebels."

"Well, Tomika, I don't think you'll be a rebel. You'll be like a... a..."

"I'll be the fat girl," Tomika said matter-of-factly. "The person stealing not only your lunch money but your food as well."

"Tomika, don't joke like that," Alicia looked up at her. "No one cares about that. Everyone loves you."

Tomika had changed a lot mentally. She had plenty of confidence although she was still the same size. Alicia figured she had come to terms with it and learned to love herself, but she didn't like it when she used her weight as some joke. If anyone dared to call her 'fat' in front of Alicia, they'd get beat down big time.

Tomika only laughed. "You're talking to the girl that Dewey nicknamed 'Turkey Sub'. Besides, I like to eat. It's cool. Katie, I think you'll be the silent, mysterious type in all black. You'll like, hang out behind the bleachers during lunch and smoke cigarettes."

"Really? I don't think I'll be like that," Katie laughed. "Besides, I'd never smoke. Gross."

"Nah. I figure she'll be the same, still listening to that Black Sabbath CD on repeat," Alicia said, closing her eyes in fatigue.

"Hey, Sabbath rocks my world. Step off," Katie stuck her tongue out at Alicia.

"Alicia, girl, you're gonna be a trip in high school," said Tomika. "You'll live in detention for back talking teachers and beating people up every week."

"I've only ever beat up two people," Alicia shrugged. "The third one was a fluke."

"Yeah, you kicked Freddy in his balls!" Katie burst out laughing at the memory. "He started crying like a little baby! No wonder he gives you such a hard time."

"Nah, that ain't it," said Tomika, laughing with Katie over the memory too.

"Girls, this isn't social hour!" Mr. Horfield yelled up at the girls who had fallen into a fit of laughter. "Keep it quiet up there!"

When she turned away, the three girls exchanged looks and chuckled quietly.

"She's evil."

"She's a future Alicia."

"Shut up, guys."

"Oh, I forgot," said Katie slyly. "_Larry_ has gotten her soft side to come out. Must've been that trip he made to your house this past Saturday, huh?"

Alicia jumped up, startled by Katie's remark. She hadn't told anyone about Lawrence's visit, let alone that she had helped him with his dancing after school Monday and Tuesday. It's not like it was some deep dark secret, but Alicia didn't want it getting out for a reason.

"_What_?" asked Tomika in a shocked tone. "You didn't say anything about that."

"There's nothing to say," Alicia said roughly. "Where did you even hear that from?"

"I heard Summer telling Marta on Monday in the girl's bathroom. She said that Lawrence ditched her to go over to your place. She told Marta that he was your boyfriend," Katie informed her.

"What is everyone's problem in this stupid school!" Alicia shouted. "Don't they know how to stay out of anyone's business?"

"So it's true? You're dating Lawrence?" Tomika hopped down a bleacher and questioned her. "Like Foreal?"

"No! He just came over and hung out. Can't two people just hang out?"

"Not when you're our age. You knew that everyone was going to think that you two were an item," said Tomika.

"Then maybe I should let them think what they want to think," Alicia shaking her head, angry as all hell now. "They're a bunch of stupid asses anyway!"

Did it look like they were walking down the halls holding each others' hands? No. Were they making kissey faces with each other in between classes? Definitely not.

"Look, I'll set everyone straight about it," said Tomika, trying to make her feel better. "I'll tell Zack to tell everyone that it's a lie."

"Yeah, I know what would set them all straight," Alicia spat, walking off of the bleachers angrily away from her friends. "Throwing something at them."

* * *

Lawrence ducked as a red ball came flying towards him.

"Ow!" shouted Marco, who had been hit in the stomach harshly by Freddy's dodge ball. "Jeeze Freddy!"

"Take a seat, Marco," Mr. Standish said. "Alright, this is the last round. Only two boys left."

Marco rubbed his stomach gingerly and went over to the bleachers to sit down next to Gordon, who was playing a game on his cell phone. The only people left were Lawrence and Freddy. Billy had been the first one to go down, and slowly, team members had fallen away. Lawrence had no clue how he was the last one standing. It was captain against captain, drummer against keyboardist, heartthrob against dork. Lawrence didn't want to continue with the game. Freddy hadn't been very nice to him for a couple of days, and the last thing he wanted to do was give him permission to throw things at him.

"You're mine, Larry," Freddy hissed. "You might as well go sit down now. Game's over."

That's what Lawrence wanted to do, but before he could even move, the whistle was blown again. Balls began to fly rapidly, but not from Lawrence's end. He had a red ball tucked under his arm as he jumped from side to side to avoid Freddy's throws. Ball after ball after ball came hurling towards him.

Maybe he should just get hit and let Freddy win. That's what the old Lawrence would do, the dork. He could lose to Freddy, and all of the boys would laugh at him. Freddy would be the hero, and he'd be invisible.

But maybe he didn't feel like being invisible anymore. Maybe, he wanted to win.

He decided in that moment that he wouldn't let Freddy win this. He took the ball tucked under his arm and lunged it with all of his might at Freddy. It missed.

Before he could take it in, a red ball came flying towards him, smacking him dead in the face. His glasses went flying somewhere, and he fell to his knees in defeat. In the background, he could hear Freddy whooping and the boys clapping from the bleachers.

"Good hustle out there, Lawrence," Mr. Standish said, handing him his glasses that surprisingly weren't broken.

Lawrence got to his feet, and the gym teacher patted him on the back sympathetically. "There's always next week."

He simply nodded and followed the rest of the boys into the boy's locker room defeated.

In the locker room, the boys talked about the dance some and held quiet conversations with each other, but Freddy couldn't help but brag.

"Did you see that? Did you see how I took him down? Bet you won't want to be captain next week, huh, Larry?" laughed Freddy from across the room, putting on his deodorant.

"Ok, Freddy, man, you can shut up now," Zack replied, shaking his head. "That was, like, ten minutes ago."

"Whatever, Mooneyham," Freddy carried on, walking over to Larry. "How does it feel to lose to me?"

Lawrence looked over at him annoyed and shrugged. What exactly was he trying to prove? He had won, big deal. He wanted to be left alone.

"I asked you how does it feel to lose to me."

"Lay off, Freddy. No one cares," Billy rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, Fancy Pants! I'm not talking to you."

"Zack, get your friend before he does something stupid."

"Come on, Larry, say something," Freddy shoved Lawrence. "What's the matter? Your witchy girlfriend Alicia not here to defend you?"

"Don't call her that," Lawrence demanded, glaring at the blonde boy.

"What are you going to do about it? Seems like lately you can't function without her."

"You don't know anything about that," Lawrence said, picking up his stuff and shoving it into his messenger bag.

"As if you can even handle her. All he needs is a girl to pay attention to him, and all of a sudden he's got balls," Freddy laughed, but no one joined in. They were all staring at him as if he had lost his mind.

Lawrence had never seen him act this way before. He was acting like some mean jock that had taken too many steroid shots.

"Where are they now, _Larry_, huh?" Freddy pushed him again.

"Don't touch me or I'll--"

"You'll what? You wanna have a go? Right here, right now!" Freddy pushed him harder this time, knocking Lawrence's messenger bag off his shoulder.

* * *

"Hey, Summer!" Alicia called after Summer, who was the last one to leave the girls' locker room.

Summer spun around. "What? You have a question about the recording session?"

"Heard you've been spreading rumors about me?" Alicia walked up to her, crossing her arms with attitude.

Summer looked confused and afraid. "Sorry. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, I think you do. You've been telling people that Lawrence is my boyfriend."

"Well, isn't he?"

"No!" Alicia snapped at the short, dark haired girl. "Next time, get your facts straight before you go running around making stuff up."

"For your information, I didn't make it up," Summer snapped back.

Alicia narrowed her eyes in confusion and anger. "What's that suppose to mean?"

"Why don't you ask Lawrence? He doesn't seem so shy about what he's telling people."

Summer left Alicia there stunned, the heels of her Mary Janes clanking against the floor as she walked away.

At the end of the day, Alicia had detention. She headed to room 301 where it was usually held and came face to face with Freddy, who was carving 'Punk Rock is God' into the desk. Ms. Mullins wasn't there yet, and only three other people were in there, one eighth grader and two sixth graders.

Alicia and Freddy glared at each other before she took her seat next to him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her.

"Spit water in Eleni's face and 'sassed' Mrs. Horfield," she answered with a clenched jaw. "What are you doing here?"

"Beat up your boyfriend in the guy's locker room," Freddy said, leaning back in the chair smugly.

Now, Alicia was angry with Lawrence, but she wasn't exactly thrilled to find out that he had been beaten up. "What? What the hell did you do that for!"

Freddy shrugged, "It's a guy thing."

"You're not a guy. You're a little boy who's so full of himself!"

"And you're nothing but a witch!"

Alicia had a notebook in her hand and prepared to smack him in his face with it, but Ms. Mullins had walked in on that moment and snatched it out of her hand before she could succeed.

"What do you think you're doing, Alicia?" asked Ms. Mullins, staring intensely and threatening at her.

"I was... handing Freddy my notebook. He needs to copy my Latin notes," she lied.

Ms. Mullins was the only person in that school that she couldn't talk back to. She had a tendency to see right through a student so, naturally, she didn't buy the lie. She took the notebook and skimmed through the pages, before saying, "Hmm, this doesn't look like your Latin notebook. It looks like a Math notebook. Next time you try to hit another student, you'll get a week's detention. Let's not be so quick to forget the consequences of last year."

When Ms. Mullins walked past to go to the front, Alicia smirked at Freddy, and he blushed. Apparently they were thinking of the same memory.

"Hey, Ms. Mullins!" Freddy shouted.

Ms. Mullins turned around, and he said, "Dewey says you never call him anymore. What's up with that?"

"Enough, Mr. Jones," she answered sharply.

Freddy snickered, and Alicia rolled her eyes. Hopefully, an hour an a half would go by fast. She had a recording session to do, and a serious verbal fight appointment with Lawrence.

* * *

Lawrence sat in the passenger seat, seatbelt buckled tightly, moping and staring out of the window. His cheek was sore and he felt sick to his stomach. Freddy had got in a good many punches before Mr. Standish came in and broke up the fight. Lawrence had lost that too. Freddy was given a detention, and Lawrence was let off scot free since he didn't start the fight.

But that didn't mean he wasn't embarrassed. He had never gotten into a fight in his entire life, and his first time, he lost.

He didn't want to talk about what had happened, but he saw his mother watching him from out of the corner of her eye. Ms. Mullins had called home to tell his parents what had happened. Now, it was only a matter of time before his mother would start questioning him about it.

He decided to just get it over with.

"Mom, I'm ok. You can stop staring at me now," he said quietly.

"I would just like to know how you and Freddy got into a fight," replied his mother in a concerned voice. "I thought he was your friend."

Lawrence rolled his eyes. How could parents be so naive? Why did they think that being friends meant that people never fought. Besides, he figure he and Freddy had only seemed like friends because of the band.

"It's just a guy thing," Lawrence said after awhile, when his mother still continued to shoot concerned glances at him. "You wouldn't understand."

"Well, I'm not so sure about you going to this recording session. Maybe--"

"Mom, no, it's not that big of a deal. Everything's solved now," he lied. "I promise."

She shot him one more concerned look and nodded in assurance. "Ok. Want me to drop you off at Dewey's?"

"Sure."

When he arrived at Dewey's apartment, everyone was already there, chatting amongst themselves excitedly. Dewey had decided that since it had been a team effort in the beginning, the entire band, meaning groupies, roadies, security, and Billy the stylist could come along too. It was amazing that they had come this far, despite the differences and friendships that had virtually come in between them all. Lawrence skimmed through all of them. He really wanted to talk to Alicia about what had happened that day, but she was nowhere to be found.

Tomika was with Zack so he went up to Katie, who was plucking a few notes on her bass. She and Alicia ate lunch together, maybe she knew the whereabouts of Alicia.

"Uh..."

Katie looked up at him with her pouty brown eyes questionably.

"Where's Alicia?"

"Detention."

"Oh..."

"She spit in Eleni's face," Katie explained and went back to what she was doing.

Lawrence nodded and looked up just as Summer was about to make an announcement.

"Ok, guys, listen up!" Summer shouted over the talking kids, "We have a few things to go over before we head out! The first rule is to please be courteous and patient when we get to the recording studio. They know we're kids so they don't expect much. Show them that we can be mature, please. That includes you too, Dewey."

"Hey, I'm the adult here, you just remember that," Dewey shook his finger importantly at her.

Summer rolled her eyes, "So anyway... Roadies, how are we with equipment?"

"It's all in the van," said Marco.

"Ok. Is everyone here?"

"No. Freddy's in detention," Zack told her.

"Alicia is too," said Tomika.

"What?" asked Dewey, "Why?"

Tomika and Zack went into their explanations of how the two had landed in detention, and everyone shot sympathetic looks at both Lawrence and Eleni. Lawrence wasn't in the mood for it. He looked away, busying himself with the scuff marks on his shoes.

"No! This cannot be happening!" Dewey ran his hand through his knotted hair frustrated.

"We're suppose to be there in twenty minutes," Summer told him.

"Everyone, in the van," ordered Dewey. "We're going to get them. Summer, grab your phone and tell them we'll be a little late."

Everyone hopped into the van, and Dewey started up his engine, speeding off in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

Only twenty minutes had passed, and Alicia had been working on her math assignment out of boredom. After awhile, all the numbers seemed to blur together, and she glanced up at the clock.

This was so not fair. She and Freddy had a recording session to do. They didn't have time to be trapped under Ms. Mullins' noise in detention. She glanced over at Freddy, who was asleep on his desk. Ms. Mullins was working on something or other not paying attention. She nudged Freddy, and he jumped up, drool on the side of his face. Alicia shot a look at Ms. Mullins nervously, but she hadn't noticed Freddy's action.

"What?" he whispered groggily.

"We have to go," Alicia whispered back.

"Why?"

"Our recording session, stupid ass."

"Oh yeah," Freddy looked up front. Now Ms. Mullins was humming a Stevie Nicks tune, bobbing her head.

"Um, Ms. Mullins, I have to go to the potty," he said, getting her attention.

Alicia shook her head and rolled her eyes. Why did he have to be so unhelpful?

"Hold it, Mr. Jones," Mullins said with a clenched jaw and continued to do what she was doing.

Freddy looked at Alicia and shrugged. She had to think of something fast to get out of here. But what could she use as an excuse?

"Um, Ms. Mullins, I..."

"What, Alicia?"

"I... I think I just started my period," she lied. "Can I please go to the bathroom?"

"No you didn't," said Freddy loudly. "You had your period last week."

Alicia glared at him, and Freddy understood a little too late.

Ms. Mullins's now looked annoyed. "I don't know what you two are trying to do but--"

In mid sentence, Dewey burst into the room, scanning the desks for the two people missing from the band.

"Oh, hey, Freddy, Alicia, get your stuff and let's go," said Dewey, summoning them up to the front.

Freddy smirked at Alicia, and the two did as told.

"Excuse me!" Ms. Mullins yelled at Dewey. "What gives you the right? They have detention. This is no time for one of your little antics."

"Oh, well that's really cute and school marmy and all, but they have more important things to do, like record CDs."

"Dewey, don't... don't make this about...," she lowered her voice, "_us_."

"Well, last time I checked, there was no _us_," Dewey said out loud.

Alicia, Freddy, and the rest of the detentioners looked on as Ms. Mullins and Dewey got into it about some relationship that they were having. They used this as a distraction to escape and head out to the van. They walked in silence, and as soon as they reached Dewey's vehicle, they went their separate ways.

Alicia didn't look at Lawrence when she got in. Instead, she sat down next to Tomika and rode the entire way in silence.

* * *

The recording session was tiresome and repetitive that day. About an hour in, everyone had lost their excitement and now resorted to playing games of tic-tac-toe and who could spin around in the chairs the longest. Lawrence watched his classmates that weren't in the band through the glass while he was stuck behind the keyboard. Freddie was still drumming away, Zack and Katie were complaining that their fingers were hurting, and Tomika had lost her voice from hitting the high notes so many times. Even Dewey was getting impatient with all of the stopping. Needless to say, none of them were no longer 'in the zone'.

Four hours had gone by, and the session was coming to an end. Sure, they had breaks in between, but Lawrence sensed that something was wrong. Alicia had stayed away from him the entire time. He had noticed it in the van when Dewey had gotten her and Freddy out of detention. She hadn't looked at him, hadn't spoken to him, hadn't acknowledged him in any way.

She could've been mad at him, but people could usually tell when Alicia was mad at someone. She wasn't yelling at him, or pushing him, or even shooting glares at him. She seemed very concentrated on everything but him. What did that mean?

Finally, the session wrapped up, and the kids were free to go. Their parents were picking them up since Dewey had driven them there. Summer held one quick meeting with everyone before she dismissed them all to go.

Lawrence shot a nervous glance over at Alicia, who was gathering up her stuff at lightning speed. She didn't look at him so he figured he should approach her to see if maybe Freddy had said something hurtful towards her in detention.

"Hey," he said cautiously.

She looked up at him and rolled her eyes. "What do you want?"

"I... I just wanted to see what was wrong," he said, shrugging. "Did Freddy--"

"No, Lawrence, it's all about you," she snapped.

"What did I do?" his voice squeaked loudly.

Alicia pushed passed him, and he grabbed her arm lightly. "Alicia--"

She yanked away from him angrily. "I trusted you! I can't believe you've been going around telling people that I'm your girlfriend!"

"What?" Lawrence heard himself yell incredulously. "I never--"

"Don't even lie. Your little study buddy, Summer, told me," said Alicia, glaring at him. He saw more hurt in her eyes more than anger. He saw disappointment. He saw insecurity.

Was he really hearing what he thought he was hearing? He looked around the room for Summer, but she had already left. He had never told Summer that they were a couple. Where had she gotten that from?

"I've never lied a day in my life," Lawrence challenged her, "especially about some girl."

Now Alicia's eyes flashed with embarrassment and he could see the tension building up in her, ready to explode.

"I did you a favor, you stupid ass!" she shouted, pushing him. "I was trying to do the right thing because I thought you deserved better, and all you've done is take advantage of it. I didn't want to go to this stupid dance, especially with you!"

Lawrence was about to defend himself until she had said it. He realized that some of the kids were still in there, watching them have this ridiculous argument. He knew they'd all call each other on the phone to talk about it later, or whisper jokes about it in the cafeteria tomorrow. He could hear them now, laughing behind his back at how much of a loser he was that his own date to the dance wouldn't be his girlfriend. He got mad at all of them and mad at her.

"I was wrong about you," he finally said, fists clamped together at his side. "God, you're just like everyone else. I'm _so_ sorry that being thought of as my girlfriend for a second is so horrible to you, and I'm _sorry_ that you're stuck with such a dork."

"Don't you even make this all about you!"

Lawrence scoffed, "Oh yeah, I forgot. It's all about you, huh? Heaven forbid someone comes along that's actually willing to put up with you and your attitude."

"Fine then, I guess you won't need to worry about that," said Alicia acidly. "Have fun at the dance all by yourself, Loser."

She stormed off and out the door, and before he could control himself, Lawrence shouted in hurt and annoyance, "You're queen Bitch, you know that!"

He spun around and glared at everyone who was staring at him, including Dewey. It was embarrassing, even more embarrassing than losing in gym class, or losing to Freddy in the fight, or feeling his mother's worried eyes on him in the car. This was that feeling of being deserted in the middle of the street after being kicked out of someone's car. It was that feeling of wetting the bed at a friend's sleep over. It was the feeling of being dumped for the first time. Lawrence was sure of that.

"Queen Bitch?" asked Dewey, for the sake of Lawrence explaining himself.

"Now _that_ took balls," Freddy was in awe. "She's going to slaughter you for that tomorrow, Dude."

"Freddy, shut up," Dewey pointed a finger at him, and Freddy shrugged and headed for the door. "Wait, I wanna talk to you and Mr. Cool, here. Take a seat."

He told everyone else to leave the studio room and closed the door behind them. Lawrence and Freddy sat on opposite ends of the couch, and Dewey sat in the spinning chair, considering them for a good while before speaking.

"Ok, I'm gonna make this quick because my show is coming on in about twenty minutes, and it's the episode where Clarice finally tells Rebecca that she had an affair with her husband and..."

Lawrence and Freddy gave him strange looks, and he got back on track, "ok, I want to know what this whole fight in gym class was about today."

That was the last thing Lawrence wanted to explain right now. He had so much on his mind that he could cry. Now, he didn't have a date to the dance and everything just seemed so wrong. Oh no. What if Freddy was right? Surely, Alicia wouldn't let him off the hook for saying that 'Queen Bitch' remark. Then again, one could only hope.

Freddy shrugged. "I spazzed."

Lawrence rolled his eyes.

"Look, I was a guy once myself--"

"You mean you're not anymore?"

"I'm trying to be serious here. Now listen," said Dewey seriously. "I know how hormones can be and you guys start to think about girls for the first time, and all you wanna do is show off for them. But you guys are bandmates. If you've got a problem with each other, it effects everyone. I told this to Alicia not a week ago. This is how bands break up and end up on _Behind the Music_. Do you understand? Larry, do you have anything to say?"

"No," he replied quietly, staring at his hands.

"Freddy?"

"Sorry," said Freddy lamely, holding his hand out to Lawrence. "We cool again, Man?"

Lawrence hesitated, having a feeling he was just doing this to get Dewey off of their backs. Eventually, he shook the blonde haired boy's hand, got up, and walked out without a second look back.

**(AN: I had no idea where I got the whole gym class setting. I was just sitting here one day for some reason picturing Alicia, Katie, and Tomika sitting on bleachers outside, dressed in these hideous gym uniforms... like gray and navy blue. I dunno about anyone else, but I hated gym class. It was just so awkward. This story isn't just about the two characters, but it's also about hitting that weird stage in your life of rumors, crushes, enemies, and the most dreadful... puberty. Please review! It would make me sincerely happy. You can nitpick it all you want or whatever. I want to know what I should've changed and what not. Some helpful criticism would be nice if you have any. Don't be afraid to let me know now... I'm already too far in this thing LOL. Oh and as mention up above, there will be one more chapter BEFORE the last one.)**


	5. Help From the Gossip King

**Disclaimer: I do not own School of Rock, blah blah blah **

Lawrence was slowing surviving Thursday. He didn't speak to anyone, he didn't raise his hand in class to answer a question, and he didn't look at Alicia. To be honest, he had spent that entire day hiding from her, afraid of what she might do for what he had shouted at her the day before.

Alicia seemed back to her normal self. He heard her sass the English teacher more than usual, she had gotten another detention for shoving some boy up against the lockers because he was simply in her way (but it was postponed by Ms. Mullins for Friday so she wouldn't have another run in with Dewey), and Tomika and she had a blow out in the cafeteria because Alicia was tired of her talking about Zack. However, as much as he wanted to, he refused to look at her.

He knew once he did, he'd feel ashamed. Ashamed of what, he didn't rightly know, but all he knew was that Alicia was pissed, and somehow it was entirely his fault. He had waited for her to approach him... hit him or something... but she never did. He couldn't bare to tell his parents that the date with her had been cancelled. They were really looking forward to it. What was he suppose to say? 'Gee, I'm sorry, but Alicia cancelled on me because I'm a loser and now she hates me'. That wouldn't work.

Lawrence had also avoided Freddy, who seemed his regular self again as well. They wouldn't have gym class until next Wednesday, and he was already coming up with excuses that he could use to get out of it. The last thing he wanted to do is to be in the same room with any of those guys.

Before the last period of the day, Lawrence found himself going to the library for his study hall period. He wanted some peace and quiet mostly. Maybe he'd check out a book to read for Saturday since he wasn't going to the dance now. He could tell his parents that it was homework and that he simply didn't have time to go anywhere. They'd buy that. Then, in his head flashed what he had said to Alicia the day before. _I never lied a day in my life_. Ok, so he lied about small things. Surely he didn't lie about things that would hurt and embarrass other people.

The thing about being alone is that it always left him to think, think about everything including that in which he didn't want to. He desperately wished that a piano would magically appear in front of him so he could relieve himself. The night before, after the recording session, he had came home and played for two hours straight before going to bed. His hands were already tired and stiff, but he literally forced himself to play. He could always play through entire songs perfectly when it came to classical piano, but that night, he had messed up and stopped so many times, that he simply started all over again. It didn't help his nerves, and he had slept miserably.

He walked among the many shelves of books unsure of what he was exactly looking for, but it was nice and quiet. As he moved into the next row, he nearly tripped over someone.

"Hey, watch it," Gordon whispered, holding his laptop close to him. He was sitting on the floor playing some sort of video game.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Lawrence whispered back.

"You wanna play?"

"Um," Lawrence looked around. "No, it's ok."

He began to walk to the end of the row, but Gordon was now at his side, carrying the computer under his arm.

"Hey, about yesterday... everyone's really sorry for not stopping Freddy. We just figured he should prove his point to you."

"What point?" Lawrence glared at him.

Gordon chuckled dismissively. "Zack and I saw it coming from a mile away. You got on Freddy's bad side."

"Can you please fill me in on what you're talking about?"

"You mean you don't know?"

"No!" Lawrence said loudly, and Gordon shushed him.

"Look, it doesn't matter anymore. It's settled. Freddy will probably leave you alone now. He just needed to get out some anger," said Gordon, way too amused about this, "I'll see ya around."

Lawrence blinked twice not fully understanding Gordon and his little chat. Whatever. He pushed in to the back of his mind, grabbed a random book off the shelf, and headed to a table, praying that last period would come so he could go home.

* * *

Alicia was crying.

She sat in the stall in the girl's bathroom, wiping away at these tears that seemed to come out of nowhere. She tried hard not to whimper too loudly, afraid that someone would walk in and find her. That's the last thing she wanted.

She had avoided Lawrence all day. He wasn't like anyone else where she could threaten him and fight back. She wished it, as hard as she possibly could, that she could hurt him, but she just couldn't face him.

When he had shouted a nasty remark at her the day before, it hit her hard. She wanted revenge for that, but every time she'd try to get think of ways to get even with him, she'd picture his kind face. The face that laughed whenever she made a joke or did something silly, the face that looked horrified when he had met her father, the face that looked angry whenever he now looked at Eleni, the face that she thought she could trust.

Then she thought of him telling everyone that she was his girlfriend. She saw a lying face, a smug face, a face that reminded her of Freddy, and she got angry all over again.

She checked her watch and decided that she wouldn't go back to her study hall. She sniffled and heard the door creak open.

"Alicia, I know you're in here," came a voice. Tomika.

Alicia didn't say anything and didn't make a move. She heard Tomika's footsteps come closer and closer until they stopped at her stall. She rattled the door, but Alicia had locked it.

"Girl, I know that's you. You're the only one in this school with that bookbag."

"What do you want?" Alicia found her voice.

"I want you to open the door so we can talk," demanded Tomika.

"No. I'm using the bathroom," she lied.

"Fine. Then I'll just go in the stall next to you."

The door to the stall on her left squeaked open, and then she heard it lock. "Ok, now telling me why you're crying."

"I'm not crying... and we're supposed to be fighting."

"We're friends. I'm over it. Besides, I have nothing to fight with you about. Zack's my boyfriend, and I can't help that I have to voice how I feel about him," said Tomika, "What I don't understand is why you won't talk to me about Lawrence."

"There's nothing to talk about," replied Alicia.

"Look, I know you're hurt, but you didn't even listen to what he had to say. Or maybe you just really wanted to believe the worst about the situation."

Alicia jumped up and stormed out of the stall and out came Tomika. The two girls stood face to face, one towering over the other.

Alicia crossed her arms and scowled at her friend. "Why would I want to do that?"

"Because it's all you ever do. If someone just looks at you, you think they want to start something. If someone crosses you in the hall, you think they're trying to deliberat get in your way. You want to see the negative. You want something to take your anger out on, and you want to hide your real feelings. But I'm afraid Lawrence has stumped you on that this time around. I'm glad someone did."

Alicia stood there, trying to remain as tough looking as she could, but she could feel another tear trying to escape. A long silence went by where she refused to make eye contact with Tomika.

"I think you should tell him how you feel. It's been way too long."

"No," snapped Alicia. "I can't. He wouldn't accept it, alright. You see how it is with us now."

"See, you're viewing it entirely wrong. I _know_--"

"No, you don't know. Look, I don't want to talk about it here. Too many people have their ears open, and I'm not having a repeat of yesterday."

The bell rang, and the two girls looked at one another.

"You alright?"

Alicia shrugged, putting on her backpack. "As good as I'll ever be."

They walked out of the bathroom, but Alicia didn't quite feel as though the day was over yet.

* * *

When Lawrence heard the bell, he let out a relieved sigh. He had survived.

He checked out the book he was reading and slipped around and through the crowded hallway of students to get to his locker, staring at his feet and politely apologizing if he bumped into someone. When he reached it, he simply stared at the door.

For some reason, he just stood there, listening to all of the chatter and movement, until only a couple of people walked the deserted halls. He turned around and slid down to the floor, not wanting to move.

He didn't want to go outside and see his mother. He didn't want to lie to her face when she asked how school had went. After awhile, he decided that he was going to tell the truth. He and Alicia were not going to attend the dance with each other.

Was it the way to go? They'd allow him to stay home from embarrassment, right? But maybe they'd force him to go anyway, and he'd sit there drinking punch all night, feeling pretty miserable.

Ugh, if only Eleni had just agreed to go with him to the stupid thing! This would've never happened.

"Don't think so loud."

Lawrence, who had buried his face in his hands and gripped his hair in frustration, looked up and saw Billy approaching, messenger bag hanging loosely off of his left shoulder. He didn't know how to respond to that and waited for him to continue to walk past, but he didn't. Instead, he plopped down next to him on the floor.

"Are you ok?" he asked, crossing his ankles.

"No," Lawrence told the truth.

"I didn't think anyone could like Alicia this much," Billy shook his head. "I think she's rather... how should I put this... mean."

"That's because..." Lawrence started off, but realized he didn't exactly know how to finish that. "She's actually really cool once you get to know her."

"Everyone thought you two were going out. I didn't believe it when Chelly told me and Leni. She, of course, heard it from Marta. I personally don't think you two make a cute couple."

Lawrence wasn't friends with Billy, but he appreciated how he always seemed to be there to help him out at the most embarrassing of times. If someone wanted to listen, he was going to tell.

"We're not. She's mad at me, and I don't even know what I did. I've never told anyone that she was my girlfriend," said Lawrence.

"Well, think really hard. Has there ever been a time that could've led Summer to think that you were boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"No, I--"

Then it hit him like a punch in the stomach from Freddy.

_"Lawrence, honey, if you want to visit your girlfriend, all you have to do is say that."_

_"Ok, fine, you caught me."_

"Oh no!" Lawrence buried his face in his hands again.

"What?" Billy squeaked.

"Summer was over my house when Alicia called to hang out with me. My mom made a comment about her being my girlfriend, and I went along with it, but I wasn't serious or anything. I really messed things up. This _is_ all my fault."

"Well, why don't you kindly tell her the true story," Billy suggested.

"I can't do that," he looked at him seriously, feeling the regret sink in. "She won't even look at me, let alone talk to me."

"Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out, but not right now. You better get your butt outta here so you won't be late to the recording session. Can't have the band without the keyboardist," Billy got to his feet and slipped on a pair of stylish sunglasses coolly.

"Thanks for, you know, talking to me. There's not many people I can talk to," Lawrence said sincerely.

"It's cool, any time," replied Billy, "and, Lawrence, I'm glad you got over Eleni. She's my friend, but trust me when I say she's a bitch. You're better off without her."

For the first time that day, Lawrence felt a little better. He hoped that feeling would last, but he knew it'd crash and burn once he saw Alicia.

* * *

"Marta, what are you doing? That note was horrible," Alicia said, looking over to her right at Marta, who was now blushing.

"Sorry, jeeze," she muttered.

The producer had stopped the song because one of the back up singers had squeaked out a rather high pitched note. It was the twentieth stop of the day.

"Of course, you're sorry," Alicia rolled her eyes. "You're always sorry."

"Whatever."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing."

"Ok, time for a break," Dewey cut in, sensing Alicia's clenched fists at her side ready to swing. "Is that ok, man?"

"Yeah sure," said the producer. "I need a smoke break anyway. Be back in five."

Alicia continued to glare at the short, blonde girl until Tomika pulled her away gently. In the room, Alicia collapsed on the couch and began talking with Katie. For a second, she glanced over at Billy whispering something to Michelle and looking at her. She shifted in her seat a little and made some snide comment about Marta's hairstyle that day. She couldn't help but to glance over there every few seconds, and she got more and more nervous every time. Now, Michelle was whispering something to Marta, who looked like she was about to cry. When she heard the news that Michelle was telling her, she perked up a little in surprise and then tapped Summer, who was on her cell phone. Summer flipped it shut and listened for awhile to what Marta was saying. Then she bit her lip and looked straight at Alicia and then over in the direction to where Lawrence was.

"What are you staring at?" Katie suddenly said, following her eyes to the other couch of schoolmates.

"Nothing, I need some water. I'll be right back," Alicia got up and hurried out of the room as fast as she could. She didn't even get two steps down the hall until she heard Summer's Mary Janes.

"Alicia," the girl breathed out.

She spun around angrily, ready to confront Summer and any of the others who were just talking about her. "What do you want?"

"I want to apologize."

"You didn't do anything, stupid ass. Now, leave me alone," Alicia turned away, but Summer wouldn't let her go.

"No, please, let me explain."

Alicia stood there for a second, deciding if she really wanted to hear this or not. Summer's face looked begging. She liked that.

"You have thirty seconds."

"Lawrence never told anyone that you guys were boyfriend and girlfriend. Well not really anyway," Summer blurted out.

"Then why would you tell me that yesterday!" Alicia shouted in shock.

"It's a long story."

"Well, here were are. You better do some talking right now."

"That day when you came to his house, his mom said something about you guys dating. Lawrence made a comment that led me to believe that it was true, but he only said it so his mother would allow him to go with you. I just found out," Summer took a large breath. "And when you approached me yesterday, claiming I was spreading rumors about you guys, for some reason, I made it sound like he was going around, telling the entire school, but that's not true. He never did anything like that."

Alicia felt her heart drop, her throat clog, and extreme guilt and tears rise. She had yelled at him for no reason, made him feel like he was a big loser, all because she was misinformed. She hated rumors! What made it worse it that she had believed one, the thing she swore she'd never do. Great, just great. She had ruined everything.

"Well thanks for telling me 24 hours too late," Alicia snapped.

"No, it's not too late. You guys should make up. He feels really bad about it."

"Why do you care?"

"Because this is all my fault. I feel horrible, and Lawrence really deserves a date to the dance," she said sincerely. "I'll even talk to him if it'll help."

"No," Alicia shook her head, "This is between me and him. I'm tired of people interfering with our personally lives, you included."

"But I apologized," Summer sounded offended. "Why do you have to be so mean all the time?"

"You're just in this for my ticket money."

"No!" Summer stamped her foot. "God, this isn't about that. Lawrence is my friend. I don't know what he sees in you, but I know he doesn't deserve your attitude. Now, I'm saying I was wrong, and I'm trying to make this right."

Alicia smacked her teeth and rolled her eyes. She hadn't told her mother about cancelling her date with Lawrence, and her father was in town for the big night. They were even taking her dress shopping tomorrow. She wanted to go, really she did. So what if she had shouted at him the day before that she didn't want to, let alone with him. It was a pathetic lie that she had made up out of anger. But she had never apologized to anyone before. Her dad would tell her that there was a first time for everything. Summer was waiting for her to respond.

"I'll handle this. You've done enough," said Alicia, pushing past her and walked back into the recording room.

When she started to make her way over to Lawrence, the producer was back, ordering them to get back to work. Fine, she'd wait after.

* * *

"Ok, all the guys, stay here for a minute. I want to have a word with you," Dewey announced, as everyone started to leave. They weren't recording Friday, Saturday because of the dance, and Sunday.

Great. All Lawrence wanted to do was go home. He wasn't in the mood for another one of Dewey's talks again.

"Hey, stupid ass."

Lawrence turned around slowly to see Alicia standing behind him with a straight face. So this was it. He was going to get his ass kicked by a girl half his size, and it was going to hurt.

"I want to talk to you... alone," she said as they both looked around. People had stopped what they were doing just to see what was happening. As soon as they met eyes with the two, they pretended to not be interested and continued going about their business.

"I'm sorry about yesterday," Lawrence immediately lunged into his explanation, afraid of her fist coming into contact with his jaw. "I just got mad and--"

"Shut up," she ordered him, and he did as told. "I'm the one who needs to apologize. Summer told me the truth. Apparently, someone found out what really happened Saturday."

Lawrence scoffed and looked around for Billy, who became very interested in his nails. "Billy, you weren't supposed to say anything!"

"Well what do you expect?" Billy shrugged a guilty fashion. "I'm a gossip king! I couldn't help myself, and you never said I couldn't tell anyone."

He turned back to Alicia, and tried to smile but failed miserably. "So, you know the truth."

"Yeah, and you're not a loser. I just said that 'cause I was mad. So what I guess I'm trying to say is... well... you know... sorry and stuff."

Lawrence studied her closely. This was probably the first time ever she had to apologize for something and mean it. "Yeah, me too."

"So, now what?"

"Um, well," Lawrence shrugged, staring at his shoes. He told himself to just do it. He'd either be dateless and disappoint his parents or ask her and have a good time. "Alicia, will you go to the dance with me... again?"

Alicia smiled brightly before clearly her throat seriously, "Sure. I guess. Yeah, that'd be cool. Well, I'll see you later. Tomorrow. Yeah."

Lawrence smiled to himself as he watched her walk away as cool as possible. He secretly thanked Billy with all of him. Everything was solved, and now, he was going to the dance with her because he actually wanted to. And she had said yes because she wanted to go with him. That made the situation a ton more better.

He took a seat on the couch next to Billy and the other boys, who sat around with blank faces. Dewey waited til literally everyone but them were cleared out before he sat in the same spinning chair the day before, and stared at all of them before he began to talk.

"Ok, this is going to be rough 'cause I'm not your parents, but I wanna get something straight. Right here, right now," said Dewey.

Lawrence rolled his eyes, thinking they were all getting lectured on the importance of solving conflicts in the band, but he was far from being right.

"I want to talk to you about... girls."

"Um, Dewey..." Billy started off, but Dewey stopped him.

"No, I want you to hear this too, Billy. Sit down 'cause this is important."

Billy slide back onto the couch miserably, and a couple of the boys chuckled.

"Look, you guys are at that stage right now were it's like 'oooh, mama, the opposite sex'," Dewey said in a weird voice, as if trying to sound smooth. The boys laughed harder. "And I know this little Spring Sing Fling Ching-a-ling thing is this Saturday. You all got hot dates, but I'm gonna say this once. No scoring, no making out all hours of the night--yes, that means you, Marco-- no groping and grinding, no getting wasted afterwards and telling them you love them when you really don't. I'm sure we all know what I'm talkin' about. Is that clear?"

Freddy raised his hand, and Dewey gestured for him to speak, "are you talking about sex?"

"Right on the dot, Jones. Let's not go into any more detail."

"It's not like we don't already know," said Freddy, "My parents do it all the time."

A bunch of the boys winced at his comment, and Dewey waved his hand to say no more.

"Guys, I'm doing this not as your father, but more as your... older brother. If the girl says no, then no. In fact, I don't want to even hear anything about scoring or hooking up or anything. Just wait until you're... old."

"What if they like making out?" Marco asked. "Marta likes to make out."

"Too much info, dude," said Zack, playfully smacking him in the head.

"Oh, like you and Tomika don't make out," laughed Leo. "Tells us where you guys were at break."

A bunch of 'woooooooos' filled the room, and Zack spent an entire minute getting nudged and poked.

"You guys are missing the point completely," Dewey yelled over top of them, trying to get it back down to a serious conversation. "Hello? I'm not talking to you guys for my health!"

Suddenly Billy stood up and hushed everyone. "Listen, what Dewey's trying to say is please respect your dates and try to stop yourselves from becoming complete perverts."

"Who are you kidding?" joked Frankie. "You have the hottest date out of all of us. Michelle's smokin'."

"I _won't_ put in a good word for you," Billy rolled his eyes.

"Ok, we got it. We won't put the moves on the girls," said Freddy to Dewey. "Can we go now?"

The boys were dismissed and Lawrence lingered back and waited for all of them to leave before he approached Dewey on his own.

"Um, Dewey," he said timidly.

"Oh, hey, Mr. Cool, what's up?"

"I just have a question. Do you think it'd be... good if a boy got a girl flowers for their date? I mean, if she was pretty tough, but girly at the same time, and you've never had a really date before..."

"Alicia would love the flowers, Larry," Dewey smiled. "It's a good way to go. Then, if she gets mad at you later, at least you know you did something right earlier in the night."

"Ok. Thanks."

"And Larry?"

"Yes?"

"Try to refrain from calling her names, especially 'Queen Bitch'. That's a no-no."

Lawrence nodded and walk away.

"And have fun!" Dewey shouted at him. "Clean, safe, non rated R movie fun."

Lawrence couldn't contain his excitement and did a little jig down the empty hall. The dance was in two days, and he'd be showing up with a date. Finally, everything was falling into place, and only one thought was on his mind.

Yes, Mr. Cool was ready.

**(AN: not as short as I wanted it, but it got the job done, yeah? PINKJOLLYRANCHER, part of Freddy was sorry and the other part, ... well, it wasn't to get Dewey off his back. Everything will come together in the very last chapter for everyone who feels as though the story is too choppy or going absolutely nowhere. I hope everyone has paid close attention and I want to thank all of those who have read this, even if you didn't necessarily like it. Get out your stones because I'm ready to unleash the very last chapter... in two weeks, maybe three. But that's not what the stones are for.) **


	6. The Spring Fling Dance

**Disclaimer: I do not own School of Rock, etc.. but I did write and complete this story. Duh.**

Alicia peered into the mirror and smiled. No wire, no metal, just straight white teeth. When her mother had told her on Friday that she had an appointment at the dentist's office to get her braces off Saturday morning, she couldn't have been more thrilled. It was painful, but she's put up with it for the night. She decided not to tell anyone about the appointment. Finally, all this braceface stuff would stop.

Not only did she have a perfect smile, she saw herself completely different in two years.

"You look beautiful, honey," said her mother, as she unbraided her daughter's hair. "Lawrence is gonna be speechless."

"I'm speechless," said her father from the doorway, smiling at her.

Alicia felt her cheeks get warm in embarrassment. She hadn't got this much attention since her parents had watched her perform the first School of Rock show ever at battle of the Bands.

"What time is it?" she asked distractedly.

"6:25," replied her mother, "and you're almost ready. "Look at mybaby's hair. She's gonna be turnin' some heads."

Alicia continued to smile in the mirror as she watched herself transform into a young lady. Tonight was the night.

* * *

It was 6:30 the night of the dance, and Lawrence was struggling with his tie big time. He usually had no problem with this, but he was nervous all over. He and Alicia had long established that they were going as friends, but that didn't mean that she still wasn't his first date. 

Everything looked wrong to him. His hair didn't look smooth enough, his pants looked short around the ankles, and he kept seeing those annoying little specs on his glasses. He had cleaned them five times already.

"Please, God. Let this night go smoothly. Don't let me do anything dumb," he closed his eyes and said a little prayer.

He took one last look in the mirror, tucked mints into his pocket, and when he reached the stairs to descend, there were a set of flashes.

His mother, father, and little sister were all standing at the bottom of the steps, all of them with cameras.

"Honey, you look so hansom!" his mother cried, hugging him tightly when he was on the last step. "Go get Alicia's corsage out of the refrigerator and her flowers, and we'll meet you in the car."

Lawrence went to say 'okay', but as soon as he opened his mouth, his father snapped another picture. It was going to be a long night.

After a few minutes later and more pictures of him holding the flowers and coming from the kitchen, he and his whole family loaded up into the car to drive off to Alicia's. They arrived there at exactly 7:00, but as if it couldn't get any more embarrassing, they had also followed him to her door.

Alicia's mother opened up and invited them in, and Lawrence shook hands with her father, who had a very strong grip. Alicia's mother was also armed with a camera, and once again he was bombarded with pictures. The parents made small talk until Alicia announced that she was ready. They all rushed past Lawrence to catch her on the stairwell and immediately a bunch of flashes went off. He heard Alicia squeak with shock, and he laughed to himself.

He was the last one to see Alicia descend the stairs, and his heart caught in his throat. She looked like an angel. A very hot angel.

She had on a sparkly, short pink dress with white sandals with a rather large heel. It was a thin strapped dress, and it made her skin look like it was glowing. Around her neck was a small pearl necklace, and she also had small pearl earrings and a pearl bracelet on her wrist. Her hair wasn't braided in a style for once. It was worn down long around her shoulders, and she had two pink barrettes on either side of her part. She smiled kindly at Lawrence, and he couldn't even begin to smile back. She had gotten her braces taken off.

"Lawrence? _Lawrence_?" Alicia was calling him.

He snapped back into reality and realized that she was now standing right in front of him.

"Lawrence, honey, are you ok?" he heard his mother say.

"I'm fine," he finally said, presenting her with the flowers he had bought for her. "Alicia, you look wonderful."

"As do you, Mr. Cool," she smiled brightly.

Their parents took a billion pictures with them together, and it got tiresome fast. Both of their moms started to cry, going on about how it was their first dance and how one day they'd be off to college. Lawrence's father bragged that Lawrence was already looking into a suitable university. Alicia looked very embarrassed, and Lawrence felt the exact same way. After fifty pictures, or so it seemed, of him pinning the corsage on her, he, Alicia, and his parents loaded into the car and left. Alicia was squished in between Lawrence and his sister, and none of them said a word the entire way there. Lawrence snuck a mint out of his pocket and slyly put it in his mouth and continued to stare out the window. Anything could happen.

When they were dropped off outside, they both took deep breaths and stared ahead at the school.

"Are you ready?" Alicia asked.

"Yes," Lawrence lied.

"No, really," replied Alicia, looking at him with apprehension, "because we can just skip this whole thing and go hang out at McDonalds or something."

"Are you that nervous?" he asked her, sitting in the front steps of the school. He could hear the music playing from the gym loudly.

"Yes," she sighed. "I mean, I know it's just a dance, but... don't you get the feeling that anything could happen tonight? Including the bad?"

"Well, yeah," said Lawrence, scratching his head and then quickly smoothing his hair back down, "but whatever it is, good or bad, we'll just have to deal with it, won't we?"

"What if you don't want to deal with it? What if you're expecting the worst?"

"We came here because we wanted to have fun. We're here together as friends, meaning..."

"--That we have each other's backs," added Alicia for him.

"Yeah, so if the worst happens to you, it happens to me too. We're in this together. Wasn't that part of the plan?" Lawrence smiled friendly at her. "Come on. It'll go... it'll go smoothly. Yeah."

He confidently took her hand and they walked through the double doors together. Whatever he had just said to Alicia, he had said it to make her feel better. But truth was, he felt like he was holding on for dear life.

The Horace Green Middle School gym looked exactly how Lawrence pictured it to look, cheap and right out of some horrible teen movie. There were different colored streamers hanging all over the place, and a table with punch and other goodies, including cookies, candy, and a fruit plate. There were a couple of chairs sprawled out with girls and boys, who hadn't come with dates, already placed in them, and a dance floor full of students who couldn't dance, but nonetheless were having a great time. The music was lame, and all of the girls looked as though they had over done it on the make up and hair. For some reason, Lawrence liked it.

"Come on, let's find Tomika," Alicia said, still holding on to his hand.

She led him through the dancing crowd and spotted Tomika and Zack right away. Zack was joking around, doing strange moves, and Tomika was cracking up while she tried to dance herself. They made a strange couple, but Lawrence thought it was very cool how they didn't care what people thought of them. He could see how much they liked each other just by the way they were so comfortable with each other. He wanted someone like that, someone that didn't make him feel stupid like Eleni once had whenever she came around. He wanted someone where he could fall into conversation easily, someone who liked the same things as him, someone that would see him more than the quiet guy.

"Hey, Alicia, girl!" Tomika yelled, waving them over. "Lawrence, what's up?"

As soon as he and Alicia reached them, Zack blurted out, "Woah, Alicia. You look hot!"

Tomika, who had on a light blue dress, crossed her arms with attitude and looked him over.

"But of course, no hotter than Tomika," he added, with a nervous chuckle.

"You guys look nice too," Alicia smiled widely.

"Larry, buddy, nice suit."

"Thanks, yours too," said Lawrence to Zack.

"Come on, let's dance," Alicia said to him, and he was happy that she didn't seem nervous anymore.

"Ok, but remember. You only taught me for a couple of days."

"No one's watching you, I promise," she assured him, "and if they are, just show them who the real Mr. Cool is."

At first Lawrence couldn't loosen up, but Alicia kept telling him to relax and to just move to the music. Pretty soon, he was able to keep up with her. They danced next to Tomika and Zack, who were doing their own thing. He noticed the others and said hi if they spotted him.

Michelle and Billy looked to be having a great time out on the dance floor. He kept spinning her around and dipping her randomly in parts of the songs, and she'd toss her hair back and laugh. Summer and her date were dancing off rhythm the entire time, but they looked like they were having fun. Her date (was it Joe?) sported a forest green tie that matched Summer's green dress perfectly.

Marta and Marco weren't doing much dancing. They were kissing the entire time, and they'd duck out of sight whenever Marco's mother tried to get to them in order to break them apart. Katie and her date weren't on the dance floor at all. They were sitting by the punch bowl, listening to seperate CD players and having what looked to be a lively conversation, although Lawrence couldn't figure out how they could do both at the same time. On the other side of the punch bowl, Freddy was surrounded by a ton of girls, both in seventh and eight grade. He looked rather bored.

Lawrence spotted Eleni with a boy that he had never seen before. He was talking to some older girl while Eleni sat there with her arms crossed. She didn't look happy at all.

He was having a great time with Alicia so far. She was a good dancer like he assumed she would be and even better than she had let on when she was teaching him how. She and Tomika were the best dancers on the floor. When a slow song came on, Alicia didn't hesitate to aniciate the action. She looped her arms around him as if they really were a couple, and he put his hands lightly on her waist. They swayed to the music, and that's when Lawrence realized something. No matter how pretty or funny Alicia was, he couldn't see her as his girlfriend. She was just a friend.

They danced to a couple more fast and slow songs, and she told him that she wanted to sit down a for awhile. He needed to take a chill pill himself because he was sweating like a pig. They sat down by the punch bowl a few a chairs away from Katie. Katie, who was wearing a slender back dress, said hi and introduced them to her date, Tim, who had shaggy blonde hair that covered his eyes.

"How come you guys aren't dancing?" Alicia asked them.

"The music sucks, but I guess we could go get a few turns and dips in before we leave," Katie said, but when Tim turned pale from her suggestion, she quickly added, "You know, not because we _want_ to, but because it'd be a waste of our $5.50. Make that $5.00. The punch is pretty good."

"Getting a head start on that rebel thing, huh?" Alicia laughed.

"Watch our CD players for us!" she called back to them, her arm around Tim's waist as she led him out onto the floor.

"Would you like me to get you some punch?" Lawrence asked Alicia politely.

"Sure," she smiled at him. When he got up to go, she pulled him back down. "Hey, listen. Thanks for bringing me here. I'm having a lot of fun."

"Me too," he smiled back and made his way over to the punch bowl.

"Freddy, when do you want to dance?" Lawrence heard one of the five girls surrounding Freddy ask as he dipped the ladle into the red liquid and poured it into a cup.

He glanced over at Freddy, and Freddy shot him a dirty look.

* * *

Alicia sat there, full of energy. She was having ton of fun so far, and Lawrence had proved to be an excellent and polite date. The dance was everything she had hoped it would be, but there was only one problem. 

Lawrence made a great friend, but he just wasn't the guy she wanted to be there with. Sure, he was sincere and kind and understanding, but that's not necessarily what she wanted in a guy. Maybe he was too nice. However, she was happy to have made a good friend in him.

A slow song came on as Lawrence made his way back to her with the punch. She said thank you and sipped some, feeling someone's eyes on her.

She looked to her left and saw some seventh grade boy checking her out. "Is there a reason you're gawking at me?"

The boy looked caught off guard. "Um... no. I was just..."

"You're were just being a stupid ass, huh?" she snapped.

The boy blushed and got up and walked away. She hadn't lost her touch at all. Lawrence laughed at her triumphant smile, but then he stopped.

"Oh no," he moaned.

"What?"

"Freddy. He's coming this way. I hope he's not going to start trouble."

When she looked past Lawrence, Freddy had ditched the group of girls and was heading straight towards them. The group of girls sighed and broke apart going their various ways.

Lawrencesank in his seat a bit, and Alicia pretended she didn't see him. Freddy stopped directly in front of her.

"Hey, Larry," he said quietly.

"Hi."

"Hey, Alicia."

Alicia glanced up at him quickly and looked away. "Hey."

"I was wondering," he shifted in his place, "if you, like, wanted to... I dunno, dance with me or something?"

Alicia's head snapped up. Was he asking what she thought he was asking? She couldn't lose her cool now. She looked at Lawrence who simply shrugged.

"Ok. Sure. Whatever," she said nonchalantly, before she could really give it some thought.

She got up and followed him out onto the dance floor feeling nervous all over. Was her hair ok? Was her lip gloss still in place? Did her dress look alright? Wait a minute, why did she care? This was just Freddy. He was probably only dancing with her to taunt her about it later.

He placed his hands gingerly on her waist, and she slowly looped her arms around his neck, trembling. They looked everywhere but at each other as they moved back and forth to the music.

"So... you look awesome. Really awesome," Freddy shrugged. "I've never seen your hair down and... yeah."

Her heart started pounding, and she felt her body grow stiff. "Yeah, you look nice too."

He was wearing a pair of black slacks, a white dress shirt untucked with the sleeves rolled up, and a regular black tie. Of course, he sported a Green Day wrist band. His hair was spiked like he always wore it. He was good looking as always.

There was an awkward silence between them.

Freddy started drumming a rhythm on her waist with his fingers nervously. Leave it up to him to still want to drum at the strangest of times.

"Freddy?"

"Yeah?"

"Stop it before I break your fingers."

Alicia could feel her palms getting sweaty. She wanted the song to be over. This was stupid, incredibly stupid.

Suddenly Freddy blurted, "Ok, really, are you using Larry to play with me?"

Alicia stopped moving. "Excuse me?"

"This whole thing with Larry. Are you guys together or are you trying to get me jealous?"

"Jealous?" Alicia stared at him in disbelief. "You're jealous?"

Freddy shrugged timidly. "I don't know. I just always thought it was me and you."

"Freddy, all you ever do is diss me. I never know what to think," she started to sway to the music again, her heart pounding even more now.

She felt like everyone was staring at her, waiting for Freddy's cue to laugh and point at her, but he was staring at her seriously. He even gripped her waist a little tighter.

"I only do that because it's the only way I know how to get your attention. I like you. A lot. I've liked you since last year, even when you kicked me in the balls. I mean, you don't care that I'm some drummer in a band like half of these brain dead girls, and you're tough and can keep up with me. That's really cool."

Alicia stopped and put her hands on her hips, "Keep up with you? Boy, I can school you in anything."

Freddy smirked at her. "Plus, I love how you get all 'Miss Diva' on me and tell me off."

Both of them laughed a bit, and Alicia could sense that the end of the slow song was coming up. She didn't want this to end, not now, when Freddy had said what she had wanted him to say for a good year now. She had never told anyone about her crush on Freddy. Tomika had sensed it and called her out on it many times, but Alicia had always ignored her. Once, she came very close to telling Freddy after one of School of Rock's shows, and ever since that night, he had started being mean to her for no reason at all. She felt stupid for not realizing that it was just his childish way of saying 'I like you'.

"But if you don't like me back then--"

"I like you too!" she said quickly, cutting him off. "Like, foreal. I wanted to tell you, but I thought you hated me."

It took awhile for it to sink in that she had said it. It felt like an extremely large weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and she felt relaxed all over. She could feel the ice around her melting. Everything she hadn't dealt with, she was dealing with it. Everything she had buried, she set free.

"No way! I could never hate you," said an excited Freddy, leaning in to kiss her.

"Woah, Freddy, woah!" she pushed him away before he could be successful.

He looked at her confused. "What?"

"You can't just kiss me. I mean, I like you and all, but I'm going to need to hear 'Alicia, will you be my girlfriend' or 'Alicia, can I kiss you' or something like that? I'm not one of those stupid girls that always follow you around," she told him like it is.

"Leave it up to you to make things difficult," he replied.

She rolled her eyes, and quickly he gave in. "Fine. Alicia, will you go out with me?"

"Yeah."

"Can I kiss you _now_?" he whined, looking ever so cute.

"That's much better," she laughed, as he brought his mouth down to hers, kissing her lips softly and awkward.

This wasn't a dream. This was real. She and Freddy were kissing on the dance floor in front of everyone. It was her first kiss and first dance, and both turned out to be absolutely great.

"Yes!" Alicia heard someone whoop loudly when she and Freddy pulled apart, grinning sheepishly at each other. They both looked around only to see Zack and Tomika.

"Yes! It's about time you told her, man," Zack whooped with his fist.

"Ain't that the truth," said Tomika, beaming.

A fast song came on, but she and Freddy continued to dance slowly, laughing at how supportive their friends were. Alicia looked over at Lawrence and hoped that he could understand. Lawrence nodded his head at her, and she got her answer.

* * *

Lawrence watched Alicia dance with Freddy. He had also watched Freddy kiss her in the middle of the dance floor. Who would've known that all of their bickering was just sexual tension. 

Things seemed to make a lot of sense now. That's what Gordon had meant Thursday in the library. Freddy was upset because of the attention Alicia was giving him. He had probably thought that Lawrence was moving in on his crush, and in return, did the 'guy thing' and fought for her. If only Lawrence had realized that when the fight was happening.

He was happy for Alicia, really he was. However, now that it was apparent that she would spend the rest of the night with Freddy, what was he going to do? Freddy, the hottest guy in the seventh grade had stolen his date.

"Is this seat taken?" came a shy, sweet voice.

Eleni. She had slid into the empty seat next to him.

"Not anymore," Lawrence forced himself to smile.

"I see Alicia's hooked up with Freddy. Didn't see that coming," said Eleni. "Sorry that your night isn't going so well."

"Actually, I'm having a blast," he tried to sound polite as possible. "This is the first time I've sat down all night. How's your date?"

He knew that would strike a bad cord in her. She pouted and looked over towards her date, who was now slow dancing with the girl he had been talking to earlier.

"He's a real jerk. He brought me here, only to hook up with some girl in his grade. He didn't want to look stupid not having a date," she replied.

"Yeah, I know some jerks," he mumbled under his breath, thinking of her and how she had acted towards him.

"Larry, listen. I'm sorry about the way I treated you. I realized that it's not how cool the date is, but how nice he treats you. You're a really nice guy. You've always been," she smiled warmly at him.

He wanted to escape from her quickly as she went on and on, apologizing for things he knew she wasn't really sorry for. If she was sorry for anything, it was not coming with a respectful guy that would've paid attention to her all night. That's exactly what she wanted. Attention. He looked around hopefully, but saw no one who could rescue him. He had to do the rescuing.

"So would you like to dance?" she asked.

"Sure," Lawrence smiled, standing up, and Eleni's face lit up, "Just not with you."

Her jaw dropped and Lawrence walked away. Now she'd know how it felt. He started to head outside, hoping to figure out something to do while Alicia was with Freddy, but a raven haired girl caught his eye. She was staring timidly up at her, and when they met eyes, she smiled at him and sank down in her chair. She was sitting among all of the dateless girls, and she had on a pretty purple dress and flats.

It was worth a shot, and that night, anything could happen. He made his way over to her and asked, "Would you like to dance with me?"

"Yes," the girl smiled taking Lawrence's hand, and he led her out onto the floor.

They began to slow dance quietly until the girl broke the silence.

"You're Lawrence, right?"

"Yeah."

"I think we're in the same math class. Ok, I _know_ we're in the same math class," she admitted, laughing nervously.

"Yeah," said Lawrence. "You sit on the other side of the room, don't you? Kristen?"

"That's me," she introduced herself. "You play the classical piano, right?"

"How did you know that?"

"I play too. The woman I take private lessons with, Mrs. P, you used to take lessons with her, and she's always comparing my technique to yours. I hate it. She makes me feel so stupid because I know you're so good."

"How do you know I'm so good?" Lawrence asked, starting to think this girl knew more than she was letting on.

Kristen blushed and then answered, "Ok, truth is, I know who you are. You're the smartest kid in our math class, you're brilliant at the piano, and you play keyboard in the _School of Rock_. I've been to a lot of your shows. I swear I'm not a stalker or anything, I just... I notice you, you know."

Someone noticed him? He suddenly felt bad that he knew nothing about her. She was pretty in the face and the fact that she also played classic piano was a plus. She also seemed very shy as they moved back and forth to the music.

"Ok, now you think I'm weird," she sighed, dropping her arms from his neck. "Maybe this was a bad idea."

"Wait, no. I don't think that," he stopped her from leaving. "I just wish I knew more about you. I don't mean to be so boring."

"No!" the girl squeaked, blushing harder. "You're not boring at all. I just feel like I'm talking your head off, and I start to talk a lot when I'm nervous."

Lawrence chuckled, "It's ok. I like it. So what kind of piano do you play?"

* * *

It was time to announce Spring Fling King and Queen. 

Everyone gathered around the front of the stage as Ms. Mullins spoke into the microphone, ordering everyone to stop what they were doing so she could make the announcement. No one was listening.

"You're a shoe in, babe," Freddy said playfully in Alicia's ear, with his arms wrapped tightly around her waist from behind. "You're the hottest girl in the crowd."

"Yeah right. You'll probably get King. Every girl in here is obsessed with you," said Alicia, seeing a couple of girls that were watching her and him. She glared at them, pulling him even more closer to her.

"I got the girl I want, and she's no queen. She's a real witch though," Freddy laughed and got elbowed in his stomach. "Ow! Haven't you done enough damage to me?"

"Keep it up, and I'll do more," she threatened him.

Alicia couldn't stop smiling. She was having a great time and was both surprised and relieved that Lawrence had been dancing and chatting up a girl in their grade. The night had not went the way they had planned, but it was good that they both got what they were looking for.

"Larry," Freddy called over the crowd to where Lawrence was still talking with the girl. "Get over here."

Lawrence looked surprised at first, but then led his new friend over towards them.

"Who's your new friend?" Alicia asked, eyeing the girl over and then deciding that she was ok for Lawrence.

"This is Kristen," said Lawrence. "She plays piano too."

Kristen said hi to them, and over came Katie, her date, Tim, and Tomika and Zack.

"Hey, Larry," said Freddy, "Sorry about the fight, dude. Really. I just thought you were trying to steal my girl, and I guess I wanted to let you know who's boss. It was stupid."

"It's fine. I'm glad everything's solved," said Larry, and they did the rockin' handshake.

"Now listen up, everyone," shouted Ms. Mullins into the microphone again. "I can't announce the winner if you don't quiet down."

Everyone took their time getting silent, and finally she opened up the envelope. She read the card then announced, "SUMMER HATHAWAY AND BOBBY JOHNSON!"

Summer and her date made their way up on the stage to get their cheap looking, plastic crowns. Summer was cheesing up a storm, and Bobby, a tall, sandy haired boy looked both embarrassed and excited.

"Bobby? I thought his name was Jeremy," said Freddy out loud, and everyone began to laugh.

* * *

Soon after, the dance was over. Only a couple of people were left in the gym. Freddy had kissed Alicia goodnight before he left. Lawrence could tell that Alicia and he were going to be the new Zack and Tomika. Freddy didn't seem to want to let her go, and Alicia surprisingly didn't seem to want him to let her go. Lawrence said goodnight to Kristen and had even exchanged phone numbers with her... you know, just in case she needed help practicing a piece of music or something. The night had gone perfect. 

"Do you feel different?" Lawrence asked Alicia, while the janitor swept the floor and the DJ packed up his equipment. "I feel different."

"In a way," Alicia tilted her head in thought. She had taken her shoes off and had her legs propped up on a chair, while he sat in a chair backwards. "I feel like tomorrow morning, I'm going to turn back into a pumpkin or frog or something."

"I don't think Freddy wants to go out with a frog," Lawrence joked.

"Exactly!" she exclaimed. "Can I have your advice about something?"

"Yeah."

"What if... what if he changes his mind or something? I mean, I'm not exactly Princess of Horace Green Middle School, and I always thought Freddy liked that sort of girl... stupid, giddy, and obsessive over him. I'm not any of those things."

"You're a lot more than that," said Lawrence sincerely. "You're better than any of those girls. Freddy likes excitement and chaos. I mean, you should see him in gym class. Those type of girls aren't like that, but you are."

"That's what he said."

"Then why am I giving you advice?"

"Because," she sighed. "I'm just afraid I might turn into that type of girl for him. I don't want to change."

"We've already changed, and you changed for yourself, not anyone else. Besides, change is good. So are risks."

Alicia laughed out loud, "I can't believe you're saying this. If you took your own advice, you'd be the most popular guy in school."

"I don't want popularity anymore. I got what I wanted."

"What was that?"

Lawrence looked at her and smiled. "A friend. A real friend. Not to mention the best date ever."

They smiled at each other, and he got up to head outside. His mother would be there any minute, and he was exhausted from a night of fun. He turned around to see if Alicia was following him, but she had ran out into the middle of empty dance floor.

"Hey, Lawrence, may I have this dance?" Alicia called out to him.

"There's no music," he said awkwardly, as the janitor shot him an amused look, "They're taking everything down."

"Who cares," Alicia yelled, running over to him and pulling him out onto the floor. "You're going to dance with me this last dance. Deal with it."

She began to dance around him happily, and eventually he gave in, acting silly and celebrating a wonderful night of crushes, new friends, and new beginnings.

* * *

The following Monday in school, everything felt a little different. Lawrence felt it all around the school hallways as the usual chatter and movement went on of kids trying to get to class before the morning bell. The girl who had her locker next to his was going on about how she had broke up with her boyfriend that night, and the boy on the other side of him was talking to his friend about how it was the worst night of his life. 

He grabbed his English book, and when he turned around to go to class, Kristen came up to him.

"Good morning, Lawrence," she said timidly.

"Morning," he smiled at her. "How was the rest of your weekend?"

"It was good. I had piano lessons with Mrs. P. They went really well. What did you do?"

"I finished up my homework and practiced a little, and I hung out with my friend, Alicia."

Kristen's smile dropped and she looked a little embarrassed and sad. "Oh, are you guys really close or something?"

"We're just friends," Lawrence quickly said. "She's actually with--"

"Hey, man, who do you think you're staring at?" someone said from behind him, and he spun around to see Freddy pushing some boy up against the locker. Alicia was with him.

"I didn't mean to," said the boy, cowering on the floor in front of everyone. It was the same boy that Alicia had caught staring at her at the dance.

"Don't look at my girl again, or I'll find somewhere to stick these drumsticks," said Freddy, pointing a drumstick in his face, then turning away from him and continuing to walk down the hall with his arm around Alicia.

Lawrence chuckled and said, "Actually she's with Freddy. They make an interesting couple, don't you think?"

"Yeah, they're both kind of... tough," Kristen winced as the boy who Freddy had attempted to stand up but fell back down from the weight of his bookbag.

"So what class do you have first?"

"French with Mrs. Gavin."

"I'll walk you," Lawrence took her books that she was holding and both of them headed down the hall starting up a conversation.

* * *

"I can take care of myself, you know," Alicia snapped at Freddy, who had just high-fived Zack as they walked down the hall to their first class. 

"I know," said Freddy, "but he had it coming. I saw him checking you out on Saturday."

"In other words, I have a jealous boyfriend."

Just then some girl said hi to Freddy and smiled suggestively at him, completely ignoring the fact that Alicia was there.

"Excuse me!" Alicia stopped the girl, who now looked confused and afraid. Her eyes snapped to Freddy's arm around Alicia. "Exactly who were you staring at a second ago?"

"I just said hi to him," said the girl quietly, as if any minute she was planning to make an escape and run down the hall.

"Oh yeah? Say hi to him in that way again, and you'll be saying hi to my hands ripping out all that pretty brown hair of yours. He's taken," Alicia snapped, and the girl looked on the verge of tears and was hurried away by some of her friends who were standing close by.

Freddy bursted out laughing. "And I'm the jealous one? Yep, we're perfect for each other. The witch and the--"

"--The asshole," Alicia suggested and playfully pushed Freddy off of her.

Freddy took Alicia's hand, holding it tight, and the students parted for the new couple that they all feared and hurried into their classrooms. Pretty soon the bell rang, and Alicia smiled to herself. They were both late to English, and Mrs. Crosley was going to give them hell for it. Freddy didn't even seemed bothered.

"Alicia and Freddy... the witch and the asshole," he thought out loud, "I like the sound of that."

**(AN: ...yeah so Freddy ends up with Alicia. Sue me. You won't get much lol. That was going to happen since the beginning and there were hints throughout the entire story. I've wanted to write a Freddy/Alicia fanfic since I watched and listened to the **Kids Commentary** on the DVD, and it's at the end where they're doing **It's A Long Way To The Top** and Kevin Clark says something like "**Hey, Aleisha. We miss you, babe**". I just thought it was cute that he said that, and I didn't know that most people had already established Katie/Freddy and Summer/Freddy ships. So I'm guessing people now hate this story. As for Lawrence, I think it was important for him to do his own thing towards the ending. He needed confidence and he got it w/o even realizing it. I don't have a favorite SOR shipping or anything (Lawrence and Tomika would be cool), but I've read a lot of the SOR fics that people post, and I'd have to say if I had to choose right now, it'd be Freddy/Katie. **

**So yes, feel free to throw stones at me in the form of REVIEWS. All reviews are welcome, but I won't respect pointless, rude reviews. If you didn't like it, simply explain why. '**this was stupid and you're a horrible writer**' isn't an explanation. '**it didn't make sense to me why Freddy would like Alicia when she said this to Lawrence**' is more along the lines of what I'm talking about. Thanks for reading. I appreciate all the support and positive reviews I've received. I know for a fact that a lot of people have read this story, regardless of the lack of reviews, and I want to thank anyone and everyone who at least clicked on this and read the first line. I'm currently working on a new SOR drama fic about Billy, but it's in _very_ early progress so keep a lookout for it. Also, I MIGHT do a one-shot about Freddy's point of view at the dance about Alicia, but I'm not completely sure. and if you ask a question, I will respond in a review.**

**oh and just for random fun, here are the many names that Summer's date had in the story because no one really knew his name..."Jason, Justin, Jake, Josh, Jamie, Joe, Jeremy"... but in the end, his name was actually Bobby... until we meet again "-D ) **


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